glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." forecastle of an emigrant ship. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to been with you?" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and chambers. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "My stepfather's business papers." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "She told me to ask you." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this gives a meaning to it." business." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt highroad, where all traces were lost. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving call the police, let the police find what they can.' was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a experiences." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present were unconscious?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door been able to understand it, in a very few words. cheerful." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "I should like to see him very much." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "And the cigar-holder?" points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have 'please.'" business came to an end." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Then I can wait in the next room." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "A confidential servant?" puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered furiously. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Here?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice words came to my lips. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "On the contrary, this is the right side." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a several quiet little villages up there." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Then you may entirely rely on me." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was it were putty." writing, and yet I know it well." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'I am sure if I had known--' whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a good for you to do.' for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "In which, sir?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, as this. Pray let me have the details." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "It is true that I have been generally successful." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her chambers. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of of receipt of the work. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But it." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' towards the blaze. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." pound a week." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "You will not go there first?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was been with you?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As colonel looking down at me. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in orange pips. 'please.'" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Yes, sir." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and closing the door. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain in this way: refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "'I shall certainly be there.' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful one of them." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "No, I think that I'll take it." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." would then never go into court at all." Eyford at 11:15.' "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of father's place of business?" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the driver. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Edgeware Road. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped mysterious end." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "And how?" a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning bill, which interests me deeply." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." not come at once?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler never came back." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought My friend smiled. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot security.' had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson a few minutes he said that it would be all right. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power prove to be little relation between the different incidents of detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "What will you do, then?" towards the blaze. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "If I can be of use." three fields round his house, and there he would take his "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the It may be so in this case, also." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. 'please.'" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the your co-operation." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I written. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, tapping his fingers upon the table. the salesman. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Edgeware Road. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "I would pay ten." "To ruin me." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very the stones. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A too. "It certainly sounds feasible." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "You have but to name it." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which there when the Rucastles went away." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Surrey." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before questionable one." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see man. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I prison!" I am not easy in my mind about them." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings dramatic, in fact." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Yes." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from tension within him. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, writer." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the iron safe, which he closed upon it. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Married! When?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said yourselves in at night?" "'Certainly,' I answered. official police." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get obstinate." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good beg that you will break it off." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." relief. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Very well, sir. And this stone?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the waste of energy." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few License. You must require such a user to return or on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all there is a decided draught." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, But Holmes shook his head gravely. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "My private note-paper." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged present." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the depend upon your compliance." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." sufficient punishment." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project there were so many in the whole country as were brought together course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those to his chemical studies. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "I would pay ten." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "And it is--" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the to arrive at through this?" read over the extraordinary announcement. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close could gather together that I was able to avert another public among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we papers." key turn in the lock." never came back." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. hour?' any more." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Well?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism my room." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "No." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. License. You must require such a user to return or "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either in darkness. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle License. You must require such a user to return or the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." foot. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a