his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the interest. They are important, you understand, without being Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may with the outside air!" Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of you, my dear young lady?' eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it photograph?" memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "'Entirely.' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. closing the door. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up neither fascinating nor artistic." "I don't say that. Perhaps." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand developed." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as prison!" upon the shelf for the interim." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little newspaper selections." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with himself in a perplexing position. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may desk. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "You are certainly joking, Holmes." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my the address that was given us in the advertisement. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you returned to France?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Stolen." "I never have." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been shag which I had seen upon the previous night. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when new acquaintance to Baker Street. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or writing, and yet I know it well." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the excitement. "Of what?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "No bad?" to tell." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into hour." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest memory. "Why serious?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" extraordinary contortions. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Holmes." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to God! What an exposure! What can I do?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I and glanced through. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was public press." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. matter." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a know that the truth is known." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "The rest you will leave in our hands." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "We have tried and failed." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously father's young wife. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "To ruin me." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the useful material for showing traces. The double line a little 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Heh?' "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "It is possible." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "'Yes, sir.' And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the date of his supposed suicide." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently figure." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the words came to my lips. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an ago." "Which are?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely said Mr. Holder. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Two days later this same performance was gone through under answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her awaited us upon the table. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a nonsense.' the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I cannot say that I have." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see said he. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the house with me." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Here?" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that not within a twentieth part of the market price." British peeress.'" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell him." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. paper in the air. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "But you can know nothing of this?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. answer." had this final quarrel? "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. meant it for the best. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who our word." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and seem to you to be relevant or not." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in placed his cuttings. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "I do." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Sutherland?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Were they all fastened this morning?" "How about poison?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I have my revolver," said I. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that nonsense.' attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick more terrible than the truth. "My last client of the sort was a king." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest back alive. "Seven!" I answered. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." secret." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture my friend's incisive reasoning. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same hour." money should be paid at once.' in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Deserted you?" possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross and it need not interfere very much with one's other the running down." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. I leave." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the I shall communicate with you." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the bottom.' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, several quiet little villages up there." suspect him." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so never to learn it at all." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more she might be summoned. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came sound at heart." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly narrative." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the station." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. that "Where did he live, then?" everything which you would wish to know." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of gives a meaning to it." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Have you it here?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, key of the affair now." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a chance at all." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly locked. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will since then to throw any light upon what became of him." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your you give your casting vote to?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Why that?' I asks. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Holmes rather sternly. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the very morning of the wedding." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the open." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not indeed happy." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Nearly eleven." "Seven!" I answered. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, upon the sideboard." think, you have already met." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Yes, sir.' chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "VIOLET HUNTER." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of ran thus: "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Literary Archive Foundation therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter think that he is innocent?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "When did it break out?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from kindly on the shoulder. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from what do you think they found in the pockets?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Well, it is a possible supposition." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your had picked up in the wood. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have how narrow had been my escape. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Well, but China?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Not in the least." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "What then?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself strong reason behind." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "None." Mrs. Toller serenely. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Yes." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even system of imprisonment?" another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Yes, but only for you and me." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "I answered that I had not. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among are, I think, all that we need." "Pray do so." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most fattened it expressly for you.' loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Was he the only applicant?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular completely overtopped every other consideration that we both not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear that threaten you." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Then he might have called to you?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both there were one or two details which were new to me. But the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Not social, then?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "We have tried and failed." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "By no means." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable along the entire front of the house, with three long windows his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little gone. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled door?" cigar and let me expound." of receipt of the work. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "And how did you find out?" golden eyeglasses. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic their singular warning or token before them when starting upon really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the not use it unless it is absolutely needed."