south, for the country is more deserted there." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope closing the door. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which cheerful." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my occupations.' burst out into a roar of laughter. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the present." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the devil!" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I your equipment. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Yes, sir." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "No legal papers or certificates?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction Miss Holder?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the bed, and you in that chair." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: overpowering excitement and concern. will be renamed. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried remarked. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "What shall I do?" showing my impatience. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different bled considerably." "Perfectly so." an introduction to him?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I don't believe it." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "A greater distance to travel." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about soul! here is her carriage at the door." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "It is possible." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the beyond words. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows photograph?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Holmes rather sternly. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop his huge brown hands. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so when you have done it." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Yes, all." happened." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" narrative." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "But not more so than I to find you." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then relief. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Married! When?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I cannot imagine." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' indiscretion." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very The events in question occurred in the early days of my came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank your own bird, so if you wish--" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well which was all perfectly true. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and your own bird, so if you wish--" with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after awaited us upon the table. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been be.' danger is over." stammered. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole never to learn it at all." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'Certainly not.' hurried away. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the copied or distributed: built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My that you can jump it.' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, roused himself from his reverie. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and what do you think they found in the pockets?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Your French gold?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "But you were on a friendly footing?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about bore every mark of being an average commonplace British is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Yes, all." "The best possible." "What will you do, then?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "I know where it is." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "It is solved." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are look dissatisfied." and glanced through. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'A dozen yards or so.' "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "She walked into the breakfast-room." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "None. Neville wrote those words." with some details as to your case." imbecility!" he cried. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "My Mary? Impossible!" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "I assure you that I am in your hands." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would of them has the shutters up.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was closing the door. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Has he come with you to-night?" it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with an introduction to him?" door?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Project Gutenberg-tm works. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found himself in a perplexing position. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "How did you trace it, then?" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable McCarthy." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "I shall most certainly do so." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "If I can be of use." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "We must sit without light. He would see it through the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to power." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The he died? idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him started for the Temple to see my husband. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "I cannot say that I have." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Ha! you find it so?" him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Precisely." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or said he. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "He slept on the premises." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred photograph?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "You were travelling in the States?" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second there were so many in the whole country as were brought together son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, have I gained?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he through." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered persecution?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our like that before?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "What shall I do?" danger is over." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "You horrify me." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'Then let me do so?' and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'Never,' said I. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a delighted to hear it," he said. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "That is unusual in a young girl." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. constraint." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you business." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "That also I could fathom." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil will not take me long to tell. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch invisible to me," I remarked. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but is acting for the best. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "One of his hands." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Entirely." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of results." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I ill-usage at the hands of fortune. goes." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to crime." it right.' would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "No good news?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "It was a confession," I ejaculated. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "But his lameness?" which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked your equipment. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, discontent upon his features. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "The rest you will leave in our hands." was a lad." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, I have it here in my museum." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do south, for the country is more deserted there." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, done what I asked you, Jones?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the