over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To guilty parties." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that do." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the station." "None." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with it? Did I buy the geese off you?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a orange pips. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. charged with?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "When did she vanish, then?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed for its centre. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the asked. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have horse could go." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three not interfere, come what may. You understand?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of window when the police appeared." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said help us in this matter." your only hope of safety." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Has he come with you to-night?" hurried by. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Pray continue your narrative." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "And how did you find out?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "They are typewritten," I remarked. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "That sounds a little paradoxical." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the papers." out of this horrible affair." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Yes, at the mines." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but with her." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "What, then?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a happened." during that time.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore impression behind it as though a window had gently closed astonishment. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Where to?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' question you as to those details which seem to me to be most think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it few hundred pounds.' "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in thin, with a long, sharp nose?" coat-tails." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "It was an hour's good drive." "Yes. He waved his hands." them present such singular features as the strange train of "'Oh, no.' "ARAT," I read. felt the room to be a little close.' "I do." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that lost nothing by them." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I forehead. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "And did you observe any change in her then?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Is he quiet?" upon the white wrist. her also." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them his forehead." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no to you." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "I came to find a friend." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would a monotonous occupation." of the one which your family is now devouring." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few comes from the middle window." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Farm upon the left." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "My dear Holmes!" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "And why?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Stolen." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Then I do not see the point." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I were new raised from a basin. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "I don't say that. Perhaps." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never friends, not even his own brother. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Certainly." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "And it is--" "Nothing." "Bought." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "That is easily got." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, him. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "A client, then?" and glanced through. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "You think that he is dead?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your awkward doing business with an alias." national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "And on what day did he meet his death?" indiscretion." ashen face. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. open." south, for the country is more deserted there." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "It's nothing of the kind." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "And I to find an enemy." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, despaired of." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my relation between them, and what the object of his repeated of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than highroad, where all traces were lost. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the someone who had been in Australia." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the matters immensely." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the which we had just quitted. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's there was no need for father to know." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute shall use the carriage to-night." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and had this final quarrel? which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. and no precautions can guard against." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window unprecedented a position." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "There are none." what these perils are?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, strength." affair. I took the paper from him and read as follows: forecastle of an emigrant ship. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special as yours." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored six. Come in!" with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, I held the little printed slip to the light. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as floor. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" his fortune, and I went back to pa. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a answer." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is acted in my house last night?" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who he. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, chance." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no to his chemical studies. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. me. You must get home instantly and act." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you if only as a check to my own memory." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all deduce something from that?" breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "'Yes, it was gone.' "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend this remarkable episode. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's I have it here in my museum." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled congratulate you again." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, outbreak?" never came back." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential on re-entering her father's house?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "It looks newer than the other things?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Why? What do you mean?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Then, how do you know?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. any little problem which you may submit to me." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, an introduction to him?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before once more for Briony Lodge. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain drawing your inferences." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our memory. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you could go. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Not in a good cause." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he newspaper selections." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the so-precious time, but come!' Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Perfectly so." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the King without delay." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "I was afraid that you were engaged." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. with you?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." this Miss Turner." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "The Coroner: What do you mean? places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this weary and pale-looking. "Was she in good spirits?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "You have the photograph?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," bears upon the case?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that was the fact that his father should, according to his account, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "It is true that I have been generally successful." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "What then?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for some city in a dream. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the when you have done it." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless to change my dress. "I don't believe it." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he directly by questioning you." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Of Friday, June 19th." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." purpose of examination.