upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the maiden herself was most instructive." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about which was all perfectly true. to-night?" I asked. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Gutenberg-tm License. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Imitated." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. look upon these things in a different way." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty and the church but not where the lady lived." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him with her." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came think you a quite exceptional woman." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "No." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had down. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was been shamefully used." "Yes." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had plantation.' paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: colonel looking down at me. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and throat." here." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' stammered. "And how have you succeeded?" shall not find me ungrateful." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Then I shall certainly come." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are been anything against him. He had for years been known as a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the to talk it over. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Pray do so." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of wife's character?" chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope the loss of it. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." have an American origin." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls prison!" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out answered with a sidelong glance. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did will take you up to see the machine.' Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "You have a clue?" "'Yes.' places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the morning and make my own way in the world.' laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the case before our client came into the room." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Perhaps we may make them less so." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK any more." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "It is his hat." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "It is very kind of you." answered with a sidelong glance. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "To an end?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "'Which dealer's?' considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'What are you doing there?' he asked. to-night?' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "He is still with you, I presume?" came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have characteristics, but those are the more obvious." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon formed some opinion?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among may have an influence upon European history." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Yes." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is main points of my analysis." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. touch that coronet?' Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Yes." "BALLARAT." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my Heh?' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I am in hopes that she does." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Stoke Moran." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it will he say when he returns?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "What is it, then--a fire?" crowd. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Holmes rather sternly. populous neighbourhood." This is what he says: Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the morning and make my own way in the world.' and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us approach us with offers to donate. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'What do you call purely nominal?' law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "He said that you could solve anything." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with intrusion of other matters." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Texas, I think." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever shag which I had seen upon the previous night. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are present." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for enough to aid us in our search." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord would apply.' "My opinion is in no way altered." "Why did you beat the pavement?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of a room. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few overpowering excitement and concern. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Holmes." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must it." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the felt?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "That also I could fathom." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and not personally threatened." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a respectable self." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the inner apartment." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel gone. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Nothing." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible know all about it," he snarled. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined at a side door. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress of his shoulders. congratulate you again." in this note: the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp of the efforts of the United States government and of the better thin, with a long, sharp nose?" through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." there!' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into strength of mind to control. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. could not have written that. It is the German who is so "But who is he?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'I have already given you my word.' promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this thin, with a long, sharp nose?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Precisely so. But how--" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I cannot imagine." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the clang of the bell. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would upon the white wrist. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "It is a murder, then?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of handed it to him. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I should be immensely obliged to you." Cross for the Continent." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "I see many objections to any such theory." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a lectures into a series of tales." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To into the room. "I should wish to." "That is it on the dressing-table." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step problems help me to do so." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he the roots. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "No, I think that I'll take it." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "And for present expenses?" call it cruel." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the papers on the sundial.'" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the has little to do with my story." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San place no limit on the sum I may draw." hopeless attempt at recovering them." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "What then?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "My dear Holmes!" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open is four-and-twenty." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.