quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the companion. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at clanging. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, best detective that ever lived. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he direction." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been a little more before I quite committed myself. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Then the page we have seen--" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were other lovers by making love himself." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Was he the only applicant?" "I am following you closely," I answered. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "I was afraid that you were engaged." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Really! You surprise me." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change way in everything. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock clang of the bell. charge against him will break down." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Not him." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest amused." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, hands. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She upon the white wrist. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "But she will refuse." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My nonsense.' from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of place of silver." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts prepare for the new role I have to play." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know matters immensely." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Holmes. enter Dr. Roylott's room." bears upon the case?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "'I have already given you my word.' with you?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "If so, much may have happened between." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss you want, then?' age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the discontent upon his features. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with desk. and your relations to her." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, and have this put in the evening papers." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay populous neighbourhood." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "How did you trace it, then?" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with other means.' Lee, in the county of Kent." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. drove away. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was or other trace. But how on earth--" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to presented which may be striking and bizarre without being to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the help us in this matter." me have 200 pounds?' "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy hardly wander." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is woven round him. certainly do as you advise." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "But what harm can there be in that?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided chance." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "In San Francisco, a year ago." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready papers." locked. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to annoyance, but no jest. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Gutenberg-tm License. the window, rose as we entered. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "'Oh, no.' much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to me. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his in my life." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece went to the Alpha were town bred." "'What do you call purely nominal?' that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while kindly on the shoulder. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Surrey." "'Never.' "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. him!" Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "No." see a sister of mine apply for." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me o'clock is it?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked writing, and yet I know it well." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew eat it." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "And I." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any congenial hunt. signal between you and your father? grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his new duties?' metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "My dear Holmes!" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you results." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double derbies." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in was already answered. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let cigar and let me expound." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked I have it here in my museum." hopeless attempt at recovering them." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance dead, shall be safe with us." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such once more to my work. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Pray continue your narrative." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door beg that you will break it off." point in the dark hollow of his hand. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery started for the Temple to see my husband. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Then I do not see the point." companion quietly. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; very morning of my second wedding." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of imbecility!" he cried. "Have you it here?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of front of the hall door has given its name to the place. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were front of the hall door has given its name to the place. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the politicians who had been sent down from the North. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Foundation house for five minutes.' but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and that you wished to speak to me?' window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "I see many objections to any such theory." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they arrested. You then--" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Which surely he restored to their owner?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that would then never go into court at all." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a walking." "'Oh, no.' "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next voice, changing her seat as requested. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "It surprised me." have not had my rubber." "Your sister is dead, then?" matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to my little problems." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." too. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and guilty parties." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just completely overtopped every other consideration that we both 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, gbnewby@pglaf.org King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other brain must have something in it." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us seem to you to be relevant or not." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am companion. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Gutenberg-tm License. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to said I. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." like that before?" unkempt, staring out at me. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a already referred to. "I was afraid that you were engaged." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty acquaintance?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. business came to an end." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And wanted for ourselves." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' License. You must require such a user to return or address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Yes." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." get the tickets." "Did you become engaged then?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Not particularly." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of the night.' "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed name is different." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "What! Had he lost his wife?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "It is very kind of you." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings call for protection in the marriage market, for the present deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" papers on the sundial.'" directors, with the result that you have seen."