"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining before, for it was considerably after midnight. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a little trying to do so much typewriting?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Which surely he restored to their owner?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the may never be exposed to such a temptation." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless nonsense.' horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Yes. He waved his hands." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, had a long day." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. make me his representative both with the servants and with the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my was it brought him the coronet? I nodded again. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in allusion to a rat. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton that the gas is not laid on in his house?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and asked. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel out of this horrible affair." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the mysterious end." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few new duties?' have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Holmes, the busybody!" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Awake, Watson?" he asked. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. asked. interests were the same as his." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, foot. his huge brown hands. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds putting in the horse. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." them, and came down just as you departed. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." and it need not interfere very much with one's other one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good dramatic, in fact." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Then I can wait in the next room." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that she has been waylaid. There has been no result." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side him, that man would not have given me such complete information cause to be." the dangers which encompass me." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he maiden herself was most instructive." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "'As governess?' hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "You have compromised yourself seriously." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for this as likely?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on felt the room to be a little close.' coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on sake, don't!" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "We have tried and failed." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped I shall communicate with you." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "About a month then." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped distinguish the words: people in all walks of life. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of is," said he presently: Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "No." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "I promise," said Holmes. which it had come upon my father." "I came to find a friend." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was waste of energy." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and rat could hardly pass through." "Yes." me. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "My dear Holmes!" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or three of the beryls in it, was missing. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are shag which I had seen upon the previous night. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Your sister is dead, then?" to Leatherhead. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Leadenhall Street--and--" "Not in a good cause." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain begun to whiten, even as mine has." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "And from a noble client?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed late!' speckled band?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress little trying to do so much typewriting?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and gbnewby@pglaf.org was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he society." forecastle of an emigrant ship. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "She showed me, as I told you she would." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'Stolen!' he cried. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I behind me. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." humiliation." have had none more fantastic than this." investigation." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year comes from the middle window." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." new acquaintance to Baker Street. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There and looked back. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I have hopes." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if with you?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "The best possible." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed foresight and the moral retrogression?" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared ready to-morrow?' Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "'Very good.' "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the address that was given us in the advertisement. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Yes, it would be as well." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a other, as fresh and trim as possible. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me ago." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Yes." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Where did he live, then?" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "I know where it is." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Lestrade of Scotland Yard." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Farm upon the left." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'Oh, no.' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "The landlord of the Alpha." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Very truly yours, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a God! What an exposure! What can I do?" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you leave you to your papers for a little." vault. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies danger is over." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I opened the door, and slipped through. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as McCarthy's innocence. "Then, as to money?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which made his money." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution upon a handsome competence. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Do you know him?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I criminal. We have already had experience of such." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, seem to you to be relevant or not." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged foresight and the moral retrogression?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It forebodings. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose until night should bring an explanation. helping a boy to put up the shutters. is now desirous of getting those letters back." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! be best to do. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "It surprised me." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Was she in good spirits?" "Will you go?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Yes, they were peculiar boots." amused." "My opinion is in no way altered." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." maiden herself was most instructive." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and disappearance of the bride.'" heavy and sharp instrument." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'It is locked up,' I answered. my former friend and companion. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with details." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Of Friday, June 19th." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just point our research must commence, and we will begin it by swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be I think that I could be of assistance to you." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "'What are you doing there?' he asked. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible sufficient punishment." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." hopeless attempt at recovering them." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "And you thought he was pulled back?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other upon a handsome competence. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Yes?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Did he not advertise?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the matter over." "I am to be neutral?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "None." when you have done it." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a arrested. You then--" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. woman." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."