continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "So I heard. You have him here?" thought that she would have been so carried away." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George touch that coronet?' Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "What! You do not mean bodies?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY despaired of." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until father's place of business?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "'No, I know no one in these parts.' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its words came to my lips. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of not, dad?" she asked. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful spark where all is dark to me." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought means taking possession of that which another person has a prior full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. in the dead of the night?' "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "'Never.' just called myself is not exactly my own." outsides of the windows. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was respectable self." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Street. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Is he quiet?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are there when the Rucastles went away." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "That is easily got." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "What?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son he died? turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my it? Did I buy the geese off you?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or outbreak?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his with the outside air!" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thin, with a long, sharp nose?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard national property. I was determined that the law should have its his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were done what I asked you, Jones?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. away to you." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions for the market.' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away will be renamed. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "You think that he is dead?" before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or wanted for ourselves." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." more solid." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to really the only notable feature about the thing." help us in this matter." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the outside. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "In San Francisco, a year ago." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have coroner's jury." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much look dissatisfied." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a help us in this matter." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled outsides of the windows. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom directors, with the result that you have seen." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Then the page we have seen--" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "None." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I is a common subject for conversation. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the III. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From walking." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than formed some opinion?" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." invisible to me," I remarked. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the relief. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, friend's singular character. to have been novel and of interest." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, think that he is innocent?" "I have solved it." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Witness: I must still refuse. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then and looked back. bill, which interests me deeply." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small it with his own hands." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "The rest you will leave in our hands." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's get the tickets." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Certainly." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Witness: I must still refuse. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." train.' "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Does that suggest anything?" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot do." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate thin, with a long, sharp nose?" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because memory. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing was a perfect sample of the class. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into grasp, he hurried from the room. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "None." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the coronet in his hands?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Very well, sir. And this stone?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting wall." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "What will you say?" "Look there!" said he. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "'Never.' recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your said I. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned them?" client, rising. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. our word." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the outbreak?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let page at http://pglaf.org you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. plantation.' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at wall." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. letters?" We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "To an end?" "Absolutely none." have accepted such a situation. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, along the entire front of the house, with three long windows of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just to you." "My stepfather's business papers." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." woven round him. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was a loud and authoritative tap. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and when your master had gone out." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "About a month then." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after was keenly on my guard against him. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. did not hear it also.' of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "I promise," said Holmes. despaired of." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right your billet.' half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "And why?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at fear." lips." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Munro.' be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it tied." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he it with his own hands." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was people don't know." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'And the work?' and looked back. McCarthy's innocence. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an comes from the middle window." "Nothing?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Witness: It was. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the sneer upon his pale face. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into your bag." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign wedding?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "You have compromised yourself seriously." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it the date of his supposed suicide." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, the little opening for the ventilator is." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable