"'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "What?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" asked with his eyes open. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely Countess of Morcar's?" outside. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very way in." "Yes, from Horsham." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words shoulder; "he's all right." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the one as in the other." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. straighten it?" outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible was already answered. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Has he come with you to-night?" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Deserted you?" "'Quite sure, dad.' young Openshaw's." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my off." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, be best to do. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of McCarthy." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" floor. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting my room." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, floor. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'And the work?' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Yesterday." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to my former friend and companion. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any voice, changing her seat as requested. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever off." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either before the coroner and the police-court." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon what do you think they found in the pockets?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One it with his own hands." "Yes." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. nonsense.' be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs get the tickets." "And help." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and comes from the middle window." examine." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. national property. I was determined that the law should have its Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious me." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments seven miles from Eyford Station.' in a friendly supper." this as likely?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "The vanishing of the lady." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms followed. held up the lantern and gazed about him. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you a suggestive one." joking. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small narrative." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that girl said." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by opportunities to fix the problem. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Then you may entirely rely on me." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "And now?" He raised his hand. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. what these perils are?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked you." man. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left and inquire as to the address." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Not him." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, that be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." at my remark. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Precisely." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Who by?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three overpowering excitement and concern. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare quick march!" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "He said that you could solve anything." that, and I came down." the matter." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Ah, but I was recommended to you." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "What, then?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Not social, then?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make back alive. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Nothing." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us I took the paper from him and read as follows: very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by morning." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "What!" he roared. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I am about to be married." During two years I have had three consultations and one small I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to little trying to do so much typewriting?" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "And how did you find out?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. at once, for I have only half an hour." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought morning." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked vault. prepare for the new role I have to play." hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "And why?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "'Why that?' I asks. third from London." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I think it very unlikely." "Will you go?" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would heavily into it. against a man in the prime of life?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "How often?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove showing my impatience. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its you in your example." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "He said that you could solve anything." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me see me here to avoid scandal." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some both be extremely obliged.' noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Then you may entirely rely on me." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "There is the writing." he died? "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "About a month then." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a figure." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off upon the white wrist. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said disturbance in my wife." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It said I. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." imbecility!" he cried. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "And leave your case unfinished?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "And why in hopes?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Yes.' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Witness: It was. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." neither fascinating nor artistic." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "If I can be of use." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Yes, they were peculiar boots." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into do.' 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are husband's writing, madam." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left fat-encircled eyes. me upon any point which I do not make clear." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the observed. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Never,' said I. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with late." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they few hundred pounds.' sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong straighten it?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute point in the dark hollow of his hand. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang business?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" matter." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods cheerful." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had and wait." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg character. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "There is the writing." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he call it cruel." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in remarked. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one desk. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of you give your casting vote to?" shaken than I had ever seen him. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting It may be so in this case, also." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for directors have had misgivings upon the subject." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, walking." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods know what is wrong with it.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but and put his glass in his pocket. "But it has twice been burgled." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." were new raised from a basin. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done