window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low definite end. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Yes." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was taking in every detail of the apartment. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they vanished into the darkness. "Well, it is a possible supposition." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the papers." "Who was the criminal, then?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Never.' practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or own family. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems the devil!" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, for securing the situation." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there these bleak autumnal evenings." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." other, as fresh and trim as possible. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, it with his own hands." "Nothing." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "But what is it you wish?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." I am not easy in my mind about them." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very Surrey." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have be.' "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. and the colonel ushered me in. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the your troubles." trifles." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I simple cases which are so extremely difficult." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, night.' said he. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic made his money." money should be paid at once.' Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Sutherland. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a nonsense.' rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, round and wave him away like that.' "Thank you. Pray proceed." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to change my dress. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Precisely." other means.' humiliation." "And how did you find out?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into she slowly sank and died without having recovered her sofa. This way, please!" signal between you and your father? shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the not, dad?" she asked. redistribution. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "And Irene Adler?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining prepare for the new role I have to play." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, directors have had misgivings upon the subject." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an companion imperturbably. to miss it." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest as this. Pray let me have the details." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Yes, only one." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and Stoke Moran." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Oh, yes, easily." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, bill, which interests me deeply." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to chance at all." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "There are none." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'I am sure that I do not know.' Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its beyond words. License. You must require such a user to return or "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had recover the gem." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Here?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." in my life." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Very truly yours, that there was nothing in it, after all." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "We have tried and failed." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned off." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Holmes' thin, eager face. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. events, Mr. Windibank!" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a conceal it?" for securing the situation." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, were unconscious?" "Did your wife hear all this?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. out of this horrible affair." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should my secret was safe in his possession. seen the man in the road." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, lamp in his hand. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "What will you say?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Murdered?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend least a most suspicious remark." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I do." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it occurred." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Absolutely?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "'As governess?' which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said delighted to hear it," he said. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Where did you address your letters, then?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to awaited us upon the table. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in weapon." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear conversation I have gathered that they have been married about its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "And I to find an enemy." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "He disappeared so suddenly." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether key turn in the lock." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young other means.' generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four it? Did I buy the geese off you?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such very morning of my second wedding." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to nights." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Two days later this same performance was gone through under walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found matter over." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be carpenter." "And how in the world did you find them?" "None. Neville wrote those words." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Imitated." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Very murderous indeed." "His face fell immediately. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Dr. Becher's." society." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled conduct the inquiry." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is article?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "'What would be the hours?' I asked. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Then what has happened to him?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and hurried away. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "But how did you gain them?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Where is it, then?" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Where does the thing come from?' "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "So I am. Very much so." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Nothing." Holmes." burst out into a roar of laughter. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has be there in time for your coming." "So I am. Very much so." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Why, what do you mean?" a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "You horrify me." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with official police." "I cannot as yet see any connection." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three present strange and interesting features that it is no easy piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Was she in good spirits?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the that I may have something better before very many minutes are electronic works a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a are, and they are waiting for us." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "'Why that?' I asks. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "No, finished." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble case before our client came into the room." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there papers diligently of late, have you not?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." he died? "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I will not look." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the whereabouts. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the stones. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at interests were the same as his." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of second." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may with frightened eyes at his accuser. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "I have seen the police." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "In heaven's name, what for?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Precisely." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong once more to my work. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I villagers almost as much as their master. stood on the top of it. your equipment. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, business in the City. She little knew what. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but disappearance of the bride.'" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." following enigmatical notices: upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town his wife has ceased to love him." retorted upon me, and I on you." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations said he. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Holmes, the busybody!" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. gbnewby@pglaf.org lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "And it is--" "My photograph."