which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Is he quiet?" "Then what has happened to him?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I you." "Nearly eleven." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the seven miles from Eyford Station.' the coronet at all injured?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "And I say east," said my patient. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Of what day?" which we had just quitted. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of present." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. do you make of it all?" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By business." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. have had none more fantastic than this." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Do you go out much in society?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Not particularly." Street. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in that the gas is not laid on in his house?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the inquest, and which are worth considering." "My dear Holmes!" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Won't it ring?" woven round him. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any papers must be those that are destroyed.' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny name is different." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." colour had been driven from his face. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass next day. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "On Monday." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with during that time.' the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to tied." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'Then let me do so?' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of rooms." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I assure you that I am in your hands." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that in the dead of the night?' "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man window when the police appeared." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "What then?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "No?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly said I. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but brought there to personate someone, and the real person is impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had deduce something from that?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of colonel looking down at me. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the not as remarkable as your advertisement." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not country, and eventually married, without anyone having a London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "The rest you will leave in our hands." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Texas, I think." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "How did he come?" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "No." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come I. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "BALLARAT." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, entirely devoid of interest." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I upon a handsome competence. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." question," said Holmes, smiling. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have becomes even more simple." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "That is possible." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." chambers. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but States. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have My friend smiled. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "The gentleman I describe." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in even of instruction." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of bill, which interests me deeply." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting fasten all the windows?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. four million human beings all jostling each other within the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have it." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be them?" Literary Archive Foundation place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It annoyance, but no jest. upon the white wrist. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger an introduction to him?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so man. "To an end?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. yards of it?' pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I jewels which you have stolen?' are, I think, all that we need." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not served to weaken the effect. had formerly been in part my own. forebodings. "Yes, that is the Crown." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the one as in the other." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "It was an hour's good drive." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get back to my heart. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some prepare for the new role I have to play." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor case-book, which he consulted. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who could gather together that I was able to avert another public child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. problems help me to do so." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid all that?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a asked. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Yes?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did interested in these little problems, and since you are good law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman client, rising. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Who by?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under together. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at McCarthy." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long there in twenty minutes." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "You think so, too?" case-book, which he consulted. learned something! Where are the gems?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is quickly through a disagreeable task. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Yes, I have one waiting." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Stolen, then." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm in his power. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock and all of them with the keenest interest. "Then he might have called to you?" depend upon your compliance." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we with some details as to your case." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than to have that photograph." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess following enigmatical notices: "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it it. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too fire. You quite follow me?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's there has been an enclosure here!" quick march!" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "When did it break out?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Quite so." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have row." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "This photograph!" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain guilty parties." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive begun to whiten, even as mine has." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "How did he come?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I do." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could danger is over." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over in his hands." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from husband's writing, madam." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the roots. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of directors have had misgivings upon the subject." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt to where he stood hid behind the curtain. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "What! Had he lost his wife?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened