gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "He is dead," cried several voices. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We photograph?" "Yes." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. forbidden door. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. them?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Do you go out much in society?" It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and asked with his eyes open. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "The King of Scandinavia." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the matter." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" the stones. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need companion. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be was feeling which was the fattest.' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I signal between you and your father? imbecility!" he cried. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at nice household for a young lady." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he is so. I know all about McCarthy." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "My opinion is in no way altered." "And is that all?" past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two I leave." "No." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, nothing of it?" bell. Holmes whistled. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Proceed, then." "'It is locked up,' I answered. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary or in danger--" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than make me his representative both with the servants and with the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. compunction about shooting them down." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke I approached. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg said I. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you washing it down with a long draught of water. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." himself to hunt down. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the inner apartment." "She will not sell." "Never." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "What?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is highly," said Holmes. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Nothing." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, him to be an active member of the medical profession." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Frequently." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "'I have already given you my word.' "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "On the contrary, this is the right side." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. in his hands." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, in the hope of finding them." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The them?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper The police have openly confessed that they can at present make peculiar to him. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the generous with you in money matters.' of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple colour had been driven from his face. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest himself in a perplexing position. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "He is dead," cried several voices. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived away into the river." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," to affect your life." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Entirely." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. of this gang." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some people in all walks of life. acquaintance?" gone. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Imitated." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "If I can be of use." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an little adventures." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know to miss it." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the straightened it out again. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Not I." "That was it, sir." "Very truly yours, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of stalked out of the room. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "'I am sure if I had known--' your billet.' have established a very serious case against the son of the and put his glass in his pocket. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock shoulder; "he's all right." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. there when the Rucastles went away." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press anything to do with the matter?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Yes, but only for you and me." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall felt?" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was soul! here is her carriage at the door." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to to-night?' surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: him to go away.' "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has society." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the closely." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just when you have done it." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "The King of Scandinavia." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come the coronet at all injured?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all train.' do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at get the tickets." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "But I have heard all that you have heard." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "They are typewritten," I remarked. husband's writing, madam." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say walking." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well even of instruction." "'Oh, no.' highroad, where all traces were lost. young Openshaw's." three fields round his house, and there he would take his locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" trifles." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate who was a member of your goose club." felt the room to be a little close.' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Where is it, then?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the business." "But to whom?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Street. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Which surely he restored to their owner?" gone before you can get him to hospital." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in undoubtedly my uncle's." it." dates and names. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and became a certainty. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Yes." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "It is very clear." corner of the building. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my them present such singular features as the strange train of from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his what do you think they found in the pockets?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and there when the Rucastles went away." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. and the colonel ushered me in. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "How on earth--" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two matter." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was and capable of preserving a secret.' "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the little opening for the ventilator is." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "What have you done?" asked Holmes. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that