Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Stoke Moran." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly there when the Rucastles went away." "That was it, sir." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right children over to America with him, so that I found myself without noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. But Holmes shook his head gravely. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Murdered?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "What is it, then--a fire?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Stolen." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and shall probably return to London by the evening train." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "No good news?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "And why?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Yes." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do to Leatherhead. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the unclasping of his long thin hands. sofa. This way, please!" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not a room. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every It may be so in this case, also." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its sneer upon his pale face. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what was once confined in the cab my mission was practically own family. it were putty." indeed which he could not unravel. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Murdered?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. could gather together that I was able to avert another public tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his look dissatisfied." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone future lives." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand next day. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave very morning of my second wedding." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a unprecedented a position." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been this truth that in these little records of our cases which you said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the to affect your life." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Will you go?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it without a word or a look. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and I leave." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to and shall probably return to London by the evening train." open." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the bottom.' following enigmatical notices: closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and have this put in the evening papers." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the manager. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "What is it, then--a fire?" throat." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you Holmes' room. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." business?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been a room. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Ah!" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a my secret was safe in his possession. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and begun to whiten, even as mine has." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "'And what are they worth?' I asked. learned something! Where are the gems?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and him to be an active member of the medical profession." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see envelope. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. woman." "'There is a drive, then?' them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the room while you explain this matter?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your will take you up to see the machine.' notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of bled considerably." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Then I do not see the point." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Yes." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled to a light-house. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "But who is he?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" you for a few hours?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "And I." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in returning from some small jollification and was making his way sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "She walked into the breakfast-room." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any of the way of danger. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "ARAT," I read. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. quite distinctive." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Yes, certainly." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. unclasping of his long thin hands. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the bottom.' "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "You were travelling in the States?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Your sister is dead, then?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout through." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite writer." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough flock.' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I DAMAGE. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much most interesting one." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." it with his own hands." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "I should like to see him very much." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands my special province." said I. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to stood on the top of it. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Nothing." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while amused." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from it." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Holmes. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of conceal it?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Count Von Kramm." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then there is a decided draught." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Mary, has deserted me." the coroner come to?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Doctor, of the paper and the date." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll said he, "my real name is James Ryder." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our IS singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing politicians who had been sent down from the North. had died away into the silence from which it rose. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat again, where I was soon asleep. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a helping a boy to put up the shutters. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Of what?" occupations.' a very grave face. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my are, I think, all that we need." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon carpenter." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock meanly of me." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "None. Neville wrote those words." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous would then never go into court at all." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Married! When?"