"Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and a shock of very red hair. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back fatally injured? reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll notes," he said. is acting for the best. helping a boy to put up the shutters. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the warnings." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Then the page we have seen--" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "VIOLET HUNTER." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after so.' His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you DISSOLVED. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left records." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. one of the states of the Union." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Where does the thing come from?' "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if this poor creature." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his bearing upon the case." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon again, where I was soon asleep. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "My own seal." the inquest, and which are worth considering." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without your most interesting statement." "He disappeared so suddenly." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Your presence might be invaluable." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Did you become engaged then?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. been shamefully used." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the and no precautions can guard against." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Where, indeed?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave never came back." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so nice household for a young lady." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which child?' have got?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not he. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What in one or two places in England?' closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our prepare for the new role I have to play." interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue I nodded to show that I had heard. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was ran thus: patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free asked. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small fact, we may call it conclusive." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power direction." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." that?' case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into were new raised from a basin. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But to tell." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Yes." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid forecastle of an emigrant ship. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "It is no ordinary one." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Farm upon the left." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I chamber." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you signal between you and your father? some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or few hundred pounds.' the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Not particularly." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the meanly of me." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "And now?" He raised his hand. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were married her." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Pray tell us what has happened to you." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed dead, shall be safe with us." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend with her." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." hair?' story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I note?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by It may be so in this case, also." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of tightly behind him. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "'Oh, no.' all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Well?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do of the way of danger. "'I have already given you my word.' watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call not within a twentieth part of the market price." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, fact, we may call it conclusive." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' interest. They are important, you understand, without being complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Doctor, of the paper and the date." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by are, I think, all that we need." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "By no means." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, that you saw all that I did." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "The decline of his fortunes, then?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Of what day?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were anything to a woman, for she would have her way." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the driver. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Yes." "And for present expenses?" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment remarked. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered standing smiling on the door-step. new acquaintance to Baker Street. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "None. Neville wrote those words." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the room while you explain this matter?" blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the nothing with him." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders name is different." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really anything to a woman, for she would have her way." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such nothing with him." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for DISSOLVED. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell enter Dr. Roylott's room." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Where, indeed?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I am following you closely," I answered. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered emerged. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there rat could hardly pass through." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the fat-encircled eyes. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who events, Mr. Windibank!" "Your sister is dead, then?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'What, the red-headed man?' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same visitors." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the October 9, 1890. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose enter Dr. Roylott's room." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man in his power. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Very truly yours, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "But how?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to grasp, he hurried from the room. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "She will not sell." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as could go. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but compunction about shooting them down." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands power." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the you." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. closing the door. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling such attractions and accomplishments?' and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and train.' have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "That's no good." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque your Highness to the police-station?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I have solved it." "And help." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Thank you. And your address?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second was once confined in the cab my mission was practically stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my the one as in the other." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Nothing?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Not particularly." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the matter." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Yes." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do to change my dress. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the very morning of the wedding." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any assist you in forming an opinion." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "I warn you that they are very incomplete." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was bled considerably." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "What! Had he lost his wife?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free like gravel from a pit.' "No, finished." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely more terrible than the truth. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, just called myself is not exactly my own." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of to affect your life." "But his lameness?" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the all?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version McCarthy's innocence. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "You have the photograph?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many