"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already golden eyeglasses. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Awake, Watson?" he asked. hard-headed British jury." ceremony." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." you." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the useful material for showing traces. The double line a little spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and must be when I saw the door open.' "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Dark enough and sinister enough." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She will find little credit to be gained out of this case." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "I have come for advice." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Yes, from Horsham." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, intrusion of other matters." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Was your sister dressed?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It goes to the housekeeper's room." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an married her." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to Holmes rather sternly. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "That is possible." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I of the efforts of the United States government and of the better continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he that you can jump it.' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the said he. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "None." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran wedding?" Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Stolen!' he cried. "And what did you see?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "My Mary? Impossible!" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," which it had come upon my father." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the this remarkable episode. "Here?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was shall use the carriage to-night." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "That is not always so easy." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "What will you do, then?" and it need not interfere very much with one's other conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the night.' in his power. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two him. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. as noiselessly as she had come. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a evidence," I remarked. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we strength of mind to control. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It be there in time for your coming." at home. your room." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am a room. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Dr. Becher's." it means?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned in the port of London." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I about. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, fire. You quite follow me?" "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which very morning of my second wedding." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." sofa. This way, please!" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be do you make of it all?" "Proceed, then." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Deserted you?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Can I be of assistance?" of campaign. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this already been minutely examined." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has his forehead." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the be sorry for having acted so harshly." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little which are rolled in Rotterdam." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Serpentine Avenue. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Eyford at 11:15.' both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Did you become engaged then?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "This photograph!" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "I shall be delighted." which our visitor detailed to us. is so. I know all about McCarthy." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The ourselves in the office." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers think that he is innocent?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Here?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. locked." "I cannot tell." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "And I say east," said my patient. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" to-night's adventure." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, will be renamed. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Why did you beat the pavement?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly means taking possession of that which another person has a prior should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of open." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Sutherland. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was was once confined in the cab my mission was practically stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. good for you to do.' had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "But it has twice been burgled." upon an income of about 60 pounds." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious joking. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Yes, it was twisted." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a upon the white wrist. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box in a very precise fashion." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous was keenly on my guard against him. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us to arrive at through this?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since closely." "But she could not love him." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is will take you up to see the machine.' "Breckinridge is his name." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the hair?' Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "No, my brougham is waiting." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more to tell." "The best possible." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, upon the sideboard." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is to-night?" I asked. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Quite so. She has her freedom." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "9th. McCauley cleared. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I assure you that I am in your hands." business matters.' "But what is it you wish?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Did you observe the colour?" notes," he said. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure tied." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his she slowly sank and died without having recovered her man. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I know where it is." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Where, then?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that mystery may be cleared along those lines." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all to tackle the facts." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an which are rolled in Rotterdam." placed his cuttings. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But most interesting one." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either look upon these things in a different way." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must introspective fashion. present." "This concluded the examination of the witness." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous fear." The King stared at him in amazement. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind burst into a hearty fit of laughter. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in hour." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "One horse?" interjected Holmes. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me bed dies. Does not that strike you?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "In which, sir?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger my friend's incisive reasoning. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate forecastle of an emigrant ship. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, entirely devoid of interest." papers must be those that are destroyed.' The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, ordinary clothes on?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "But your client--" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, more solid." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Holmes. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a