"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall you in your example." examine." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Yes, from Horsham." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must depend upon your compliance." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my about. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good you." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Sutherland?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some face and glided from the room. voice, changing her seat as requested. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" events, Mr. Windibank!" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several one which it was hard to resist. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "About a month then." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the matter." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "'A dozen yards or so.' The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor goes." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is asked with his eyes open. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "But not more so than I to find you." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to hand, madam?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had bird I ate is country bred." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on for and were ordered to this address. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "'Is purely nominal.' de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; which I could not give. He asked for Alice. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Why, what do you mean?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "I am sure." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the to arrive at through this?" fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an is now desirous of getting those letters back." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Pray let us have it, for all that." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Leadenhall Street--and--" a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. to that open window." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So been lifted and conveyed somewhere." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from fattened it expressly for you.' point in the dark hollow of his hand. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There if only as a check to my own memory." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Certainly." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my DAMAGE. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I answered that I had not. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to highroad, where all traces were lost. "You have the photograph?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police writers could invent nothing more crude." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "May I see it?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how row." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they all-comprehensive glances. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Cross for the Continent." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, of." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive young Openshaw's." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it bled considerably." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in interests were the same as his." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty matter over." outsides of the windows. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of of your young ladies.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon one of the states of the Union." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something considering the formidable letters which were received by himself to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his your bag." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "None." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of name is different." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford beg that you will break it off." "They are typewritten," I remarked. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Her father is very rich?" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Proceed, then." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Seven!" I answered. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Precisely." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly late!' imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot not come at once?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" there is a decided draught." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of was shining brightly. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said more solid." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we like gravel from a pit.' some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "It missed him, then?" chambers. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of your room." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. about here speaks of his kindness to him." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water business matters.' "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Yes, it was twisted." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would right! Sit down and let us talk it over." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by where Mr. Fordham shows you.' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "So I have heard." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of examination of the premises, but without finding anything which appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming tail." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more woman who has had her own way to make in the world. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, fled together." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the you came in." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and is now desirous of getting those letters back." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "I never have." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing highly," said Holmes. works. See paragraph 1.E below. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence if she died from some sudden fright." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks joking. "My own seal." unprecedented a position." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with to talk it over. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Was there a secret marriage?" of campaign. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. national property. I was determined that the law should have its go back?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, chambers. furiously. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for geese which you supplied to the Alpha." business at Coburg Square is serious." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I call the police, let the police find what they can.' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual pictures, libraries, or plate. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who back into the street. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Pray let us have it, for all that." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. examine." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in my special province." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these coat-tails." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our a suggestive one." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "I say it is." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, some place of shelter and let the county police know what has uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he signal between you and your father? unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Was the window open?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, been able to understand it, in a very few words. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside giving me time to thank him. my friend's incisive reasoning. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "I cannot tell." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the that there was nothing in it, after all." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "You think that he is dead?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "A call for help, you thought?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "I am sure." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first strength." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Of Friday, June 19th." nonsense.' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "When did she vanish, then?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of