state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "That's no good." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the sofa. This way, please!" business came to an end." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Why did you beat the pavement?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "VIOLET HUNTER." definite end. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "What?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him James Windibank. Voilà tout!" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever of receipt of the work. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had where Mr. Fordham shows you.' questionable one." "Yes." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "But of what society?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he ashen face. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the to-night." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his Sutherland?" "There are none." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a the King without delay." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "An accident, I presume?" faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I locked. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "What steps will you take?" I asked. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is was keenly on my guard against him. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not indeed happy." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which case before our client came into the room." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "It is possible." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Yes?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes been lifted and conveyed somewhere." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, had picked up in the wood. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Yes, but only for you and me." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time tightly behind him. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands the stable lane now." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident towards the blaze. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "And you don't know his address?" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, 1.F. "Yes." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, vanished into the darkness. "No." if I call to-morrow?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and a shock of very red hair. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A of them has the shutters up.' compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon tightly behind him. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "I have my revolver," said I. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the fear." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is trifles." "And how did you find out?" "That is possible." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. my secret was safe in his possession. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no key turn in the lock." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations to that open window." some terrible trap for her." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does it means?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been and the colonel ushered me in. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the coronet in his hand?" "Well." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Yes, sir." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the peculiar to him. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Where, then?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in even of instruction." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I me what he had done with the three missing stones. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "'In my own bureau.' result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "This photograph!" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an as he folded up the epistle. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "About a month then." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my The summons was a brief and urgent one. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'Most admirably.' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "And what then?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Breckinridge is his name." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his tassel actually lying upon the pillow. amused." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you very old mansion. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small is acting for the best. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His be there in time for your coming." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question cheerful." read over the extraordinary announcement. hand, madam?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "No sign of it?" followed. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for of the way of danger. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "And sit in the dark?" docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Why did you beat the pavement?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Perhaps I have." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "'I shall certainly be there.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I will not look." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "I think that it is very probable." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't of campaign. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' words came to my lips. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform dramatic, in fact." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at over with notes and figures. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I guessed as much." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and effective." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of is acting for the best. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "How long did she speak to this Alice?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and shadow pass over his face as I spoke. not within a twentieth part of the market price." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' mystery!" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Stolen." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long outside." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by suggested at once that there must be a communication between the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp individual and becomes the badge of a society." dead, shall be safe with us." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "And it is--" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "None." there was no need for father to know." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Again Holmes raved in the air. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of more solid." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Yes." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, made him keep the appointment." once more for Briony Lodge. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "A greater distance to travel." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet yards of it?' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax you give your casting vote to?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking that you saw all that I did." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. the station." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, at once, for I have only half an hour." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "And for present expenses?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon had picked up in the wood. any." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad empty. is a common subject for conversation. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "But we can't all be." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Pray continue your narrative." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Nothing." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty you in your example." from the brougham. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened breakfast." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his hand, madam?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, matter." tension within him. matters immensely." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Ha! you find it so?" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in weary and pale-looking. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had gives a meaning to it." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass