instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "You have a clue?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "'Certainly not.' what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did I. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to newspaper selections." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Yes, certainly." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fuss that is made over them." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "I am still in the dark." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of ill-usage at the hands of fortune. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot my secret was safe in his possession. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "He said that you could solve anything." dear old homesteads?" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Then, as to money?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew or other trace. But how on earth--" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker there was no need for father to know." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an are, and they are waiting for us." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." strength." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban crowd. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered individual and becomes the badge of a society." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone of." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Leave Paddington by the 11:15." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "And why?" some terrible trap for her." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up certainly not very gracious." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows direction." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or public press." said he. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Nothing?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "He disappeared so suddenly." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "I have a cab outside." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "By no means." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over occupations.' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing his huge brown hands. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Whose house is it?" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Where did you address your letters, then?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran cheerful." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, ashen face. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send figure." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction main points of my analysis." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that tail." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" to that open window." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing redistribution. charged with?" "And how in the world did you find them?" married her." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to cheerful." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock disturbance in my wife." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. about. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be instincts rose up against that laugh. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting ashen face. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. other lovers by making love himself." telegram would bring me down to your help." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "And why in hopes?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself to change my dress. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with to a light-house. "Perhaps I have." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the green of the new foliage. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the house with me." you?' unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense one of the states of the Union." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "And I to find an enemy." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "What then?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project she slowly sank and died without having recovered her afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to at once, for I have only half an hour." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. in darkness. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done where she found matters as described by the last witness. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "My dear Holmes!" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' there." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'Very good.' business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think of the one which your family is now devouring." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. my former friend and companion. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is had this final quarrel? much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife to tackle the facts." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "To ruin me." "Your sister is dead, then?" the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more article?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining his knees, staring into the fire. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can brandy and water within his reach. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips soul! here is her carriage at the door." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It standing smiling on the door-step. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of business at Coburg Square is serious." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'I have heard so.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come foresight and the moral retrogression?" To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Never." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the again before evening." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "'Yes, it was gone.' indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "'Entirely.' "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "It must be recovered." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy digesting their breakfasts at home." within hail.' "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, your bag." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the crime." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." hour." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Munro.' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, October 9, 1890. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "And did you observe any change in her then?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "The vanishing of the lady." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up such attractions and accomplishments?' have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "That is easily got." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him green of the new foliage. shoulder. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At row." "We have tried and failed." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "At half-wages, in fact." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for congenial hunt. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how it." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich desk. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "My dear Holmes!" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper wanted for ourselves." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these 1.E.9. papers on the sundial.'" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "On your arm?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his less than 26s. 4d. our word." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the death." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of amused." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "'What would be the hours?' I asked. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs tail." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "It is half-past ten now." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an south, for the country is more deserted there." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a voice. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Yes, but only for you and me." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." these bleak autumnal evenings." electronic works papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't be sorry for having acted so harshly." affair. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such records." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you tightly behind him. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and young Openshaw's." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was directors have had misgivings upon the subject." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, shaken than I had ever seen him. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and