found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'What then?' I asked. some terrible trap for her." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Then I am your man." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be mystery may be cleared along those lines." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and is worth.' mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. hardly wander." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Holmes rather sternly. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Well, but China?" casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR notes," he said. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Of what?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "I guessed as much." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "I cannot say that I have." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than a good hundred miles off by now." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' felt?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "You horrify me!" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "One?" hour." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that have been better. It is all right." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the station." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he village inn over there?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two peculiar to him. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I bird I ate is country bred." "'Where could I find him?' things are very often connected not with the larger but with the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Very. But will he see it?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From writers could invent nothing more crude." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." had picked up in the wood. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative http://gutenberg.net/license). almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in think that any burglar could have done. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "I think that it is very probable." direction." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think lips." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "The knees of his trousers." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker them present such singular features as the strange train of into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door bachelor.' "None." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the address that was given us in the advertisement. the devil!" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has note?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "The Cedars?" 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, voice, changing her seat as requested. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase you came in." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "One?" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Nor running a chance of arrest?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "A thing like a cleaver," said he. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't I have it here in my museum." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "No." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Eyford." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Pool. what these perils are?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Yes." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no could gather together that I was able to avert another public "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position during which he might have communicated with his friend the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Then I shall certainly come." was already answered. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more affection." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my papers." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did opened a pocket-book and took out a note. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than hopeless attempt at recovering them." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be in his power. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are I think that I could be of assistance to you." room. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case hour?' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, nice household for a young lady." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they do." my former friend and companion. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was a room. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the gone before you can get him to hospital." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" hopeless attempt at recovering them." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" new duties?' yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Ah!" remarked. "Not him." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "I think that it is very probable." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his McCarthy's innocence. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. like that before?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to at once, for I have only half an hour." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think with the outside air!" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons envelope. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, attention." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she in one or two places in England?' enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." forehead. room had already been engaged for us. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Will you bet, then?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "But his lameness?" "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre again, where I was soon asleep. "Did you observe the colour?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in his cane at the bell-pull. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "At what time?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses she to prove their authenticity?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, conclusions. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Upon what point?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among people in all walks of life. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "It is solved." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "He slept on the premises." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom to you." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in bonnet, and went out." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Nothing." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "I shall most certainly do so." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He something of him before." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his if I call to-morrow?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "But the mystery?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it address. legal crime." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present father's place of business?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save My friend smiled. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Well?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in side. status with the IRS. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "'Certainly not.' fattened it expressly for you.' "How many? I don't know." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of country, and eventually married, without anyone having a place of silver." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of handed it to him. with the outside air!" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, closely." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." forebodings. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Entirely." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to that I can to serve you." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed in my life." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "It may not come to that," said Holmes. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of of campaign. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the key of the affair now." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Where to?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "'A dozen yards or so.' across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the head. So long, then!" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes child?' interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge used to be." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up that I can to serve you." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the tragedy. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. head. So long, then!" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got neither fascinating nor artistic." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him and put his glass in his pocket. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book?