interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Stolen, then." them?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in morning." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son the coroner come to?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your there in twenty minutes." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, bled considerably." leaning back in his chair. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Entirely." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the Assizes." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he were new raised from a basin. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I one of the states of the Union." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, in my life." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the a very grave face. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "His face fell immediately. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "That is it on the dressing-table." My friend smiled. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can to have that photograph." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has see me here to avoid scandal." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "What then?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining to-morrow." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself said I. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for disappearance of these gems?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "No bad?" October 9, 1890. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a ready to-morrow?' of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "'And the work?' basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. and no precautions can guard against." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. would then never go into court at all." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "That is easily got." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my your troubles." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "And help." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the gbnewby@pglaf.org door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America would then never go into court at all." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off nights." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Was the window open?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project lectures into a series of tales." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "No sign of it?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this shaken than I had ever seen him. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees depend upon my doing so.' "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "I should be immensely obliged to you." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow bare slabs of marble. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some even of instruction." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Whose house is it?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to-night?" I asked. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense pierced for earrings?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Where, indeed?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. furiously. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been bare slabs of marble. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact call for it in person on Monday morning.' is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so the bed, and you in that chair." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, national property. I was determined that the law should have its my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Was he the only applicant?" the coronet at all injured?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me charged with?" "And I." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be to affect your life." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the in my life." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Then he might have called to you?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and showing my impatience. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left written. you do it in twenty minutes!' snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime that views." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture them, and came down just as you departed. "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Breckinridge is his name." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said your own bird, so if you wish--" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Your French gold?" "I am to be neutral?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "One of the highest in England." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Yes, certainly." gone. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'And what are they worth?' I asked. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as over with notes and figures. delirious. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I am sure." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I this Miss Turner." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Of what?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: one else, I think." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of to-morrow." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger system of imprisonment?" "How can you tell that?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head his face which made him a very different person to the round, "'Yes.' "'Oh, no.' always that they were such commands as a lady might with protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a do." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "How can you tell that?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler views." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "'What do you call purely nominal?' step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you just called myself is not exactly my own." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left works. See paragraph 1.E below. official police." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of deduce something from that?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Yes." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "The King of Scandinavia." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "We were both in the photograph." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Who was the criminal, then?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "No, I had a dozen." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you kind enough to tell me what I should do." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we distinguish the words: "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "That is it on the dressing-table." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "'Most admirably.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and go from here to the Strand." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is someone who had been in Australia." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but easy-going way." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment has little to do with my story." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, suddenly upon us." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white might help us?" one of the states of the Union." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Then I shall certainly come." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Pope's Court. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Then the page we have seen--" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "My dear Holmes!" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "You have compromised yourself seriously." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "I will do it." "I do." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all narrative." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. like gravel from a pit.' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was she might be summoned. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the side-table." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone gentleman's clothes. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but constraint." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim opened a pocket-book and took out a note. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared them?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and salesman. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner read over the extraordinary announcement. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Was she in good spirits?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I his huge brown hands. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the any little problem which you may submit to me." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is matters immensely." will be renamed. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little It was close upon four before the door opened, and a last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "That's no good." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they absolutely follow my advice in every respect." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "And you can do nothing until then?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to row." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "When did she vanish, then?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "About a month then." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the out." golden eyeglasses. the inner apartment." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the