"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of will take you up to see the machine.' "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "And from a noble client?" him nearly every evening." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for possible that we could bring him back to her? had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "I say it is." "He might." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "He said too much." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by vault. stood on the top of it. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told sake, don't!" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the not fit the lock." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double *** START: FULL LICENSE *** bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than astonishment. Holmes rather sternly. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with you?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." voice. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Then how many are there?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "And what then?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me License. You must require such a user to return or the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was village inn over there?" "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. more solid." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with leave you to your papers for a little." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent in him." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "The murder was done with it." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Yes, from Horsham." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets for and were ordered to this address. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt down in his armchair and closing his eyes. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "It is half-past ten now." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" breakfast?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Your French gold?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "At the wedding breakfast." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man miles off. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the so-precious time, but come!' he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "What is it, then--a fire?" "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the his cane at the bell-pull. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party is now desirous of getting those letters back." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be really the only notable feature about the thing." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "In answer to an advertisement." chance at all." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," written. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the with you?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window were new raised from a basin. "Really! You surprise me." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" paper in the air. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "I warn you that they are very incomplete." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'A dozen yards or so.' and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'About the same.' "Yes, it was twisted." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Yes, they were peculiar boots." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the in this way: case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are empty. shoulder; "he's all right." absorbing." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Where did he live, then?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "'Where could I find him?' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in trying to your nerves." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of villagers almost as much as their master. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual at home. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "You think that he is dead?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ suspect him." south, for the country is more deserted there." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. assist you in forming an opinion." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. observed. "'Then let me do so?' "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence that there was nothing in it, after all." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice of Fenchurch Street." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I arms and began to sob in a high treble key. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Then I do not see the point." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step chill to my heart. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to affair. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between remarked. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so events than those which have happened in my own family." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, people don't know." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "What of the rat, then?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from troubles have been weighing upon his mind. of the one which your family is now devouring." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their already referred to. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and 11:15.' coroner's jury." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may tightly behind him. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "'What are you doing there?' he asked. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found forbidden door. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "That is easily got." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "No, but the enclosure is." "Frequently." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, in a friendly supper." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between on in his house." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a daring than any effort of the imagination." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the upon an income of about 60 pounds." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a weigh very heavily upon my conscience." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those confronted him. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "What is it, then--a fire?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a answer." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed cigars in the box." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for returned to France?" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Was there a secret marriage?" "And is that all?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you imbecility!" he cried. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Yes." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "But the mystery?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Yes, sir." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of side. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang do you make of it all?" "No." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "And why in hopes?" "Yes." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was intrusion of other matters." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "But how did you gain them?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "I answered that I had not. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Who by?" shall not find me ungrateful." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "And you can do nothing until then?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' details." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." with frightened eyes at his accuser. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the felt?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his one of them." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any house for five minutes.' "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE bearing upon the case." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was presume?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "And your father? Did you tell him?" bird of prey. "Yes, it would be as well." one of the states of the Union." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'A dozen yards or so.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "But what will you do?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing his wife has ceased to love him." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "It goes to the housekeeper's room." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred our word." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain me. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the spark where all is dark to me." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "None." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself voice. "I never have." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent crime." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I bird I ate is country bred." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "It is no ordinary one." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were remarked. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and through." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. to Leatherhead. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." child?' "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and coat-tails." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Dirty?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "And why?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his amused." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "This concluded the examination of the witness." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At lumber-room." closely." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "'What, the red-headed man?' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.