"Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "You have it, sir, just as it happened." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray been anything against him. He had for years been known as a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "I should like to see him very much." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael sooner or later she must fall a victim. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that seen the man in the road." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." http://gutenberg.net/license). "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the empty. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on that, and I came down." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to letters?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned kind enough to tell me what I should do." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** least a fellow-countryman. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used chemical work which was so dear to him. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased closely." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." confronted him. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully question. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a have not had my rubber." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. It may be so in this case, also." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, putting in the horse. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of that he has suffered." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and right! Sit down and let us talk it over." this man was intellectual?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "She walked into the breakfast-room." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I of the one which your family is now devouring." clanging. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a through." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." be. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." the devil!" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Very much so." Dr. Gregory B. Newby likely to be some crony of the landlady's." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary little trying to do so much typewriting?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Nothing." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was good for you to do.' down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, should be taken.' the loss of it. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington key turn in the lock." of the vacancies.' face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, Clair, of Lee." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "But what is it you wish?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter little trying to do so much typewriting?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "And now?" I asked. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my eavesdroppers?' and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. security.' but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "'Yes, I promise.' "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet me, and I could not think that his explanation of the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Thank you. And your address?" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I over part of the map. "What do you read?" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with here and I will read it to you: "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot over here." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. when your master had gone out." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and not use it unless it is absolutely needed." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Again Holmes raved in the air. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Pray be precise as to details," said he. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as three fields round his house, and there he would take his member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, late!' another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front families. Now for the facts. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father figure." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our to his chemical studies. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "How did that help you?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Pray let us have it, for all that." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a death." fear." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has fat-encircled eyes. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to not come at once?" might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "And for present expenses?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "9th. McCauley cleared. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On been shamefully used." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "'Quite sure, dad.' corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. tapping his fingers upon the table. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly question you as to those details which seem to me to be most against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, companion imperturbably. you understand?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." as he folded up the epistle. Count Von Kramm." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, disturbance in my wife." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Upon what point?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having chamber." Countess of Morcar's?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the stammered. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in and inquire as to the address." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "And for present expenses?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their lips." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "What! a murderous attack?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the King without delay." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from was used.' is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important compunction about shooting them down." deduce something from that?" had this final quarrel? Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other enter Dr. Roylott's room." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "How did you deduce the select?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Very truly yours, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy What do you deduce from it?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "He is still with you, I presume?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall matter." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "They are typewritten," I remarked. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she because she had spent so short a time in this country that she opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Eyford at 11:15.' "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor said he at last. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I golden eyeglasses. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "I think that it is very probable." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. London for the present?" "Yes, he did." "My last client of the sort was a king." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "'Yes, sir.' corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do dates and names. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out James Windibank. Voilà tout!" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Yes, it would be as well." "Why did you beat the pavement?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Your sister is dead, then?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been friends, not even his own brother. "Entirely." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country situation." never will be, entirely cleared up. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: weapon." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my straighten it?" prisoner's face. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Why? What do you mean?" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom politicians who had been sent down from the North. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Well?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" telegram would bring me down to your help." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." and the colonel ushered me in. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his my friend's incisive reasoning. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your even so self-evident a thing as that." again." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "It was." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you