o'clock is it?" and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the that I am arrested." "His face fell immediately. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly so.' Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose towards the blaze. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler door?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I will get her to show me." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, wanted for ourselves." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "'Very good.' here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: occurred." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the mystery!" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" you do it in twenty minutes!' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. mysterious business." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "The Cedars?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "But what will you do?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone most interesting one." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." death." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry really the only notable feature about the thing." seem to you to be relevant or not." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, have had none more fantastic than this." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to out of this horrible affair." "From his hat?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "You know me, then?" "Was there a secret marriage?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Was she in good spirits?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton bed dies. Does not that strike you?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a trifles." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "The Coroner: What do you mean? assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to window when the police appeared." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Arthur Conan Doyle that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "What do you mean?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "BALLARAT." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his seven miles from Eyford Station.' she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, this as likely?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from fled together." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because his fortune, and I went back to pa. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "'I shall certainly be there.' sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was depend upon your compliance." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are do.' and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I am following you closely," I answered. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend infinite languor in his face. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair McCarthy's innocence. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" way in everything. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who your equipment. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "I will not look." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "And is that all?" "Do you know him?" maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had people don't know." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Have you good authority for what you say?" very morning of my second wedding." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery speckled band?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an when your master had gone out." will take you up to see the machine.' interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such this poor creature." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable guilty one." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached simple cases which are so extremely difficult." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Not in the least." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss this as likely?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered question you as to those details which seem to me to be most ways of our fellow-men." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Her father is very rich?" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen power." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal see a sister of mine apply for." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My been deceived." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the appeared upon the scene." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. I think that I could be of assistance to you." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, quite distinctive." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when I. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "That was it, sir." it. "You will not go there first?" "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the chance." "I cannot as yet see any connection." of the one which your family is now devouring." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I secret." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "'Quite sure, dad.' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "How do you know, then?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that question. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of putting in the horse. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young distinguish the words: was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Never." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. do.' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he October 9, 1890. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "I have my revolver," said I. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a British peeress.'" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and own family. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce never came back." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Did you observe the colour?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Won't it ring?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents License. You must require such a user to return or of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "No more words. Get out!" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH address. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "She walked into the breakfast-room." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned train.' several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Not in a good cause." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, you, my dear young lady?' "An accident, I presume?" as he folded up the epistle. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it wife's character?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the guilty one." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set in the hope of finding them." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Stolen." "'You cannot say what it was?' ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "So I have heard." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old that there was nothing in it, after all." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "What! You do not mean bodies?" "No." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "'I have heard so.' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it 11:15.' the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "That also I could fathom." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the best of training." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard away into the river." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see IS Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography nice household for a young lady." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "No." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "How about poison?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend until night should bring an explanation. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her cost them two and thirty pounds." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he enough to aid us in our search." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully there!' from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Yes, I have one waiting." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind cigar and let me expound." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. affection." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "An accident, I presume?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. lamp in his hand. a little more before I quite committed myself. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "There are none." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind official police." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not light and attacked it." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my The King stared at him in amazement. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and never will be, entirely cleared up. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry it with his own hands." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." spare." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident this unhappy family?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Which are?" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards name is different." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting astonishment. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "And Miss Sutherland?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it nothing with him." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "What will you do, then?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would to-night?' with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and