"And for present expenses?" "I am armed." me have 200 pounds?' plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to tension within him. "That's no good." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a http://www.gutenberg.net Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor a monotonous occupation." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Was your sister dressed?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of dramatic, in fact." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the opened the door, and slipped through. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been shall use the carriage to-night." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter see me here to avoid scandal." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, signal between you and your father? revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers call it cruel." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" get the tickets." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the strode off upon his way. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible once more to my work. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." think, you have already met." "No more words. Get out!" "Eh? What was that?" "His face fell immediately. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my learned something! Where are the gems?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "'Certainly,' I answered. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where to tell." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "9th. McCauley cleared. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "But how did you gain them?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we over here." one of them." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I formed some opinion?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" felt the room to be a little close.' least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Edgeware Road. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per http://gutenberg.net/license). But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country friends, not even his own brother. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "So it appears." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Yes." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "'It is locked up,' I answered. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." upon the sideboard." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere already been minutely examined." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "The best possible." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they chance at all." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not four million human beings all jostling each other within the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Always." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." drawing your inferences." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must felt?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "'I am sure that I do not know.' one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are unclasping of his long thin hands. "But how?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "The doctor?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "And you don't know his address?" "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Won't it ring?" "Yes." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the running down." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to promised to bring home. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and have an American origin." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "But you would not advise me to refuse?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "The murder was done with it." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "But how?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which his huge brown hands. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, will not take me long to tell. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, bonnet, and went out." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing me what he had done with the three missing stones. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "At the wedding breakfast." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace you in yours." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." companion quietly. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came thought that she would have been so carried away." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he my special province." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our pressing in one house as in another. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am there were one or two details which were new to me. But the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Then I am your man." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my them?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Gutenberg-tm License. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but imbecility!" he cried. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Of what?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the His smile broadened. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "If so, much may have happened between." think, you have already met." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be down. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "It is possible." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to highly," said Holmes. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his me. You must get home instantly and act." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair annoyance, but no jest. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with and I shall be with you presently." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, himself. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Did you become engaged then?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "And how?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem it. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on certainly not very gracious." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his green of the new foliage. "Not in a good cause." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes gives a meaning to it." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "What is it, then--a fire?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious away to you." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "I was mad--insane." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Dirty?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had throat." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Count Von Kramm." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "The doctor?" have I gained?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may wedding?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "It was an hour's good drive." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of the so-precious time, but come!' that you can jump it.' "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "How did you deduce the select?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I leaning back in his chair. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'Never,' said I. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the to have that photograph." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project the coronet in his hand?" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Yes." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of invisible to me," I remarked. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, which it had come upon my father." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the in darkness. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Where is it, then?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the footfalls from the street. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy politicians who had been sent down from the North. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are be best to do. Clair, of Lee." "And how?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, third from London." hands. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Project Gutenberg-tm works. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Then I do not see the point." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time head. So long, then!" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and inquire as to the address." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "At half-wages, in fact." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you would apply.' sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in if I call to-morrow?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it important." and no precautions can guard against." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'Oh, no.' going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of have I gained?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish in darkness. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the down. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle over with notes and figures. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I him." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'Oh, no.' "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it digesting their breakfasts at home." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was are, and they are waiting for us." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled