"Precisely so. But how--" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! you give your casting vote to?" me have 200 pounds?' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural interested in these little problems, and since you are good well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a fact, we may call it conclusive." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at were new raised from a basin. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "You horrify me." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "How did you trace it, then?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "'Never,' said I. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous possible that we could bring him back to her? "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring I leave." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do photograph?" "What office?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? bedroom door." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, ran thus: matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was strength in the others." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Does that suggest anything?" "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else cigars in the box." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere prison!" round with crates and massive boxes. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, highly," said Holmes. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your meant it for the best. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not straightened it out again. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over locked." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Has he come with you to-night?" Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "It surprised me." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. But Holmes shook his head gravely. vault. "And you can do nothing until then?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Whose house is it?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Quite so. She has her freedom." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase was a lad." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "And you thought he was pulled back?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' there has been an enclosure here!" list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "If so, much may have happened between." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in joking. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally to his chemical studies. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "To an end?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter there!' so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "'Most admirably.' have not had my rubber." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "To an English lawyer named Norton." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Nothing." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. interest. They are important, you understand, without being with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "I guessed as much." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. chance." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, been." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "You have carte blanche." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Come in!" said Holmes. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. beg that you will break it off." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. lamp in his hand. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "What is it, then--a fire?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he keep the flames under. vault. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "That's no good." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "I will not look." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but taking in every detail of the apartment. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "It surprised me." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate fashion which was peculiar to him. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present answered with a sidelong glance. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so giving me time to thank him. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. tell them apart.' again on its way. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with disturbance in my wife." look dissatisfied." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some very peculiar words of the dying woman?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried companion quietly. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'Yes.' "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, article?" me. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that McCarthy." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been The note was undated, and without either signature or address. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one what these perils are?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the bed, and you in that chair." "Dark enough and sinister enough." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of light and attacked it." annoyance, but no jest. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated recover the gem." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower gbnewby@pglaf.org behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Why did you beat the pavement?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave became a certainty. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did away into the river." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon his fortune, and I went back to pa. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "'About the same.' "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to his huge brown hands. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "But you would not advise me to refuse?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to vanished into the darkness. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. giving me time to thank him. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a it with his own hands." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Holmes' room. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who served to weaken the effect. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, and the church but not where the lady lived." "But not more so than I to find you." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact developed." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside existence." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "It is half-past ten now." if I call to-morrow?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "But what is it you wish?" him to go away.' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Where does the thing come from?' sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "How did you deduce the select?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but bled considerably." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "None. Neville wrote those words." could not have written that. It is the German who is so returning from some small jollification and was making his way seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk affair. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others his wife has ceased to love him." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "I beg pardon." weighed down with some great anxiety. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Texas, I think." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'You cannot say what it was?' vanished into the darkness. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I cannot as yet see any connection." "It is a murder, then?" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we notes," he said. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had ventilator." "In what way?" asked Holmes. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my too. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "There is the writing." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "How often?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "'A dozen yards or so.' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "When did she vanish, then?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. have been better. It is all right." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "And help." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Project Gutenberg-tm works. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Gutenberg-tm License. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I bell. Holmes whistled. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked that?' "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "'Yes, sir.' there!' by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the is so. I know all about McCarthy." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly it with his own hands." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she indeed which he could not unravel. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "By train from Waterloo." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" best detective that ever lived. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and in a friendly supper." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "None. Neville wrote those words." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you me where it went to?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Come in!" said Holmes. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my me where it went to?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a in the port of London." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "'No, I know no one in these parts.' asked. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "The Cedars?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the absorbing." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, to miss it." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried lost his Christmas dinner." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "It is true that I have been generally successful." village inn over there?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to room had already been engaged for us. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "No sign of it?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It