"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his note?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they garden below. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight to-night." "You will not go there first?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, that I can to serve you." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do when you have done it." "Never." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'And the work?' you understand?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it companion imperturbably. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "I was sure that I might rely on you." his eyes and forehead. business at Coburg Square is serious." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I am to be neutral?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the had a long day." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "When did it break out?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they respectable self." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden made his money." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know breakfast and whispered something to her husband. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Did you become engaged then?" matters immensely." brandy and water within his reach. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was awaited us upon the table. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "I would give my fortune to have them back." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, some terrible trap for her." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Henry Baker is a member." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "I have solved it." been shamefully used." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "What, then, did Peterson do?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "None." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the question," said Holmes, smiling. you." went to the Alpha were town bred." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "'I have already given you my word.' was already answered. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would again." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "And did you observe any change in her then?" to miss it." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This pressing in one house as in another. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and several quiet little villages up there." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and fat-encircled eyes. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'There is a drive, then?' It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he yards of it?' two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'Yes, it was gone.' beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor had died away into the silence from which it rose. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Was your sister dressed?" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have observed. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and to Leatherhead. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a writers could invent nothing more crude." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have writer." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Arthur Conan Doyle Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Your French gold?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of carried out of court." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had reach." yourselves in at night?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "He is dead," cried several voices. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you dramatic, in fact." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do prison!" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took photograph?" "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you outsides of the windows. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "'It is locked up,' I answered. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about on re-entering her father's house?" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "What?" in him." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Mrs. Toller serenely. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to confronted him. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to strength." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to such person." ashen face. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. hard-headed British jury." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which question you as to those details which seem to me to be most would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," McCarthy." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "No sign of it?" stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully open." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Really! You surprise me." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "I have my revolver," said I. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" fear." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'Very good.' there has been an enclosure here!" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I don't believe it." hour?' tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "At the wedding breakfast." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "And how in the world did you find them?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble call for it in person on Monday morning.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own head. So long, then!" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "We were both in the photograph." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, later, upon the night of May 2nd." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of not as remarkable as your advertisement." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "I have my revolver," said I. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. prison!" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "In the cells." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that said I. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Did you observe the colour?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "What can you not understand?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "If so, much may have happened between." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, in this way: screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small for securing the situation." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, waste of energy." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Pope's Court, Fleet Street." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "I cannot say that I have." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "You have a clue?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "How did you deduce the select?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the detained." most interesting one." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "How do you know, then?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and rat could hardly pass through." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor laugh and put his lips to my ear. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "But we can't all be." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Whose house is it?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, morning." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "We have tried and failed." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to whereabouts. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "But his left-handedness." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you back to my heart. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "What office?" "Never to return." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. in this way: "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. and laid it on the table. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, enough to aid us in our search." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all call it cruel." "Well." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Holmes. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."