his grey eyes. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I see many objections to any such theory." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "'What then?' I asked. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "If I can be of use." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they to-night." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "But she could not love him." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "My dear Holmes!" possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main is a common subject for conversation. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was open." "What have you to say now?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my again." stepfather?" "But how?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows allusion to a rat. is a common subject for conversation. writer." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for has little to do with my story." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised individual and becomes the badge of a society." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. me what he had done with the three missing stones. Arthur Conan Doyle "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole when you have done it." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, matter over." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall occurred." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "No?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned at once, for I have only half an hour." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "I have my revolver," said I. "In answer to an advertisement." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "But she could not love him." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Do you receive much company?" he asked. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "'Yes, sir.' observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the dead, shall be safe with us." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Indeed! Whose, then?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. daring than any effort of the imagination." the house with me." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case were new raised from a basin. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "ARAT," I read. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in goes." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as American. Then who could this American be, and why should he of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The during which he might have communicated with his friend the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate even of instruction." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "No?" "I see no marks." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a what these perils are?" papers on the sundial.'" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been which we had just quitted. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur into the bag, and made for the door. to his chemical studies. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to the bed, and you in that chair." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case friend's singular character. discontent upon his features. "Absolutely none." prepare for the new role I have to play." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "He is still with you, I presume?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously I am not easy in my mind about them." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "'Why that?' I asks. said he at last. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "'And the work?' which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, spare." your Highness to the police-station?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing foresight and the moral retrogression?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "10th. John Swain cleared. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily leaning back in his chair. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the went to the Alpha were town bred." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like is now desirous of getting those letters back." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "What then?" "It missed him, then?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another particular state visit http://pglaf.org cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Yes." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved desk. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying papers must be those that are destroyed.' sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and of your young ladies.' for the market.' just called myself is not exactly my own." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "To the police?" seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending to a light-house. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative and a shock of very red hair. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Mrs. Toller serenely. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" already referred to. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. stepfather?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of begin with, and I had not got mine yet." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Was she in good spirits?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Why did you pick him?" this as likely?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out you understand?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Your presence might be invaluable." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "It's nothing of the kind." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a call for it in person on Monday morning.' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." electronic works were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then advice." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "'There is a drive, then?' "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Very murderous indeed." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a and put his glass in his pocket. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Holmes, the busybody!" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to congratulate you again." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered unprofitable." he bowed and left the room without another word. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one forebodings. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself himself in a perplexing position. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a may never be exposed to such a temptation." to a more successful conclusion." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." was lame." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "It is very clear." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort John Swain, of St. Augustine. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "By no means." woven round him. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'Certainly not.' for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about me. You must get home instantly and act." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "'And what salary do you ask?' Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, me. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Yesterday." His name is Francis Prosper." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. had formerly been in part my own. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would the so-precious time, but come!' clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the make me his representative both with the servants and with the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the friend's singular character. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The the matter?" her also." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "My dear Holmes!" perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? License. You must require such a user to return or object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his away into the river." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and must be when I saw the door open.' education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "And the murderer?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you companion quietly. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he woman who has had her own way to make in the world. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the or other trace. But how on earth--" cost them two and thirty pounds." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where goes." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Proceed, then." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull union?" "Well." place no limit on the sum I may draw." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing then?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur security.' "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope gives a meaning to it." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging