"No, I am descending." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "What is it, then--a fire?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be arrested. You then--" rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the inquest, and which are worth considering." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good promised to bring home. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my was the fact that his father should, according to his account, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a individual and becomes the badge of a society." questioning and rather startled gaze. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can call for it in person on Monday morning.' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Has he come with you to-night?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "I don't say that. Perhaps." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Yes, it would be as well." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind conceal it?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a brought there to personate someone, and the real person is my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that call the police, let the police find what they can.' vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Yes, sir." to have that photograph." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Won't it ring?" throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the galvanised. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of second window is the one that I jumped from." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Why, what do you mean?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never upon an income of about 60 pounds." "I fear not." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of is a common subject for conversation. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "BALLARAT." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, attention." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "And now?" I asked. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" system of imprisonment?" she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between be sorry for having acted so harshly." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, to some other building. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "Where, indeed?" tell him that I know him to be innocent." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be at a side door. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle examine." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 affection." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'Which dealer's?' Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "I would pay ten." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "The vanishing of the lady." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Yes, all." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. ourselves in the office." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest appeal." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming not come at once?" if only as a check to my own memory." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "And from a noble client?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Absolutely?" "Was she in good spirits?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before daring than any effort of the imagination." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are and your relations to her." and have this put in the evening papers." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop and all of them with the keenest interest. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her simple cases which are so extremely difficult." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Yes." "He is dead," cried several voices. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is events than those which have happened in my own family." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Married! When?" "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and outsides of the windows. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Imitated." "I am armed." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could that threaten you." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "And how have you succeeded?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah during which he might have communicated with his friend the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "But how did you gain them?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "And I say east," said my patient. charge against him will break down." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had extraordinary contortions. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too acted in my house last night?" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of to Leatherhead. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black down in his armchair and closing his eyes. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "It's nothing of the kind." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "It was an hour's good drive." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong night.' said he. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired get her out of the way." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the married her." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every them?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows highroad, where all traces were lost. key turn in the lock." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "You don't mind breaking the law?" done what I asked you, Jones?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use father's young wife. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming less than 26s. 4d. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get away into the river." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, hardly wander." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding not come at once?" touch that coronet?' town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Then, as to money?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the do you make of it all?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, acted in my house last night?" up this clue while it is still hot." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I would give my fortune to have them back." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell anything to do with the matter?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "That is not always so easy." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But train.' "I would pay ten." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we key turn in the lock." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which this poor creature." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he developed." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of their singular warning or token before them when starting upon satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your becomes even more simple." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "No bad?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the served to weaken the effect. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, my secret was safe in his possession. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his pity, because in other respects you would really have done very something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine appeal." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "But you would not advise me to refuse?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then forebodings. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will electronic works characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in shoulder. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Why did you beat the pavement?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." you?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "My private note-paper." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age colonel looking down at me. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a keep the flames under. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater and a shock of very red hair. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I a room. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for strong reason behind." strong reason behind." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended key of the affair now." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting begun to whiten, even as mine has." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Your sister is dead, then?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would writing, and yet I know it well." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the assist you in forming an opinion." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the dangers which encompass me." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his was once confined in the cab my mission was practically speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Breckinridge is his name." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after to-night." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "It is very clear." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by you want, then?' him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it