"I was mad--insane." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." for and were ordered to this address. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said him." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the salesman. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Eyford at 11:15.' completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Do you go out much in society?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by sneer upon his pale face. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and and have this put in the evening papers." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "I cannot as yet see any connection." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at me upon any point which I do not make clear." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had prepare for the new role I have to play." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic looking up at the numbers of the houses." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should success. "Stolen." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "No, I am descending." "And it is--" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Where is it, then?" "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Who by?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and think that he is innocent?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Not I." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "And your father? Did you tell him?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a be.' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of walking." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "That sounds a little paradoxical." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two in my life." "I never have." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There of campaign. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her she to prove their authenticity?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Ha! you find it so?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert already referred to. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot confronted him. "Absolutely?" believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door possible that we could bring him back to her? can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all sit on the left-hand side of the driver." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs mysterious business." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "By no means." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the of campaign. "An enemy?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the started for the Temple to see my husband. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question fact, we may call it conclusive." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." tension within him. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "My dear Holmes!" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any acted in my house last night?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able Cross for the Continent." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "What is it?" twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some forebodings. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! some terrible trap for her." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. observed. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin have one." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From it? Did I buy the geese off you?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Two days later this same performance was gone through under was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was bears upon the case?" "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Nothing?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Very truly yours, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the round and wave him away like that.' over here." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his hopeless attempt at recovering them." "What then?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my and prosperity to your house. Good-night." fuss that is made over them." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do American. Then who could this American be, and why should he said he. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Then I shall certainly come." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual be there in time for your coming." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which feature." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "It is half-past ten now." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from point in the dark hollow of his hand. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be the King without delay." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry not fit the lock." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to looking up at the numbers of the houses." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after the driver. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." girl said." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you been." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "And from a noble client?" "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "You horrify me!" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. nights." returning from some small jollification and was making his way time." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "But what is it you wish?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "One?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "And how did you find out?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "I was mad--insane." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is may never be exposed to such a temptation." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and again before evening." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had individual and becomes the badge of a society." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it you for a few hours?" least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "She showed me, as I told you she would." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and shoulder. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who is four-and-twenty." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Quite so." a very grave face. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by to surprise her." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. to-night." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had one or two very singular points about this room. For example, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up delighted to hear it," he said. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he is worth.' attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' detective. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long morning." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "We must have a cab." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss people in all walks of life. with her." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "It is no ordinary one." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the tragedy. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It her also." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the away into the river." "Precisely." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little flock.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales tell them apart.' sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." empty. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that ordinary clothes on?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "We must have a cab." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Upon what point?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Entirely." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "And why?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "But of what society?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all remarked. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of relief. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and