"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of of your young ladies.' it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I late." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "'About the same.' The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, from you?" "Not in a good cause." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, kind enough to tell me what I should do." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "No." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and particular state visit http://pglaf.org to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "So I heard. You have him here?" gbnewby@pglaf.org unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see shoulder; "he's all right." question. "Then, how do you know?" upon a handsome competence. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Always." Edgeware Road. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that interest. They are important, you understand, without being upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a the side-table." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United jewels which you have stolen?' call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six my secret was safe in his possession. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled security.' have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must the dangers which encompass me." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'You cannot say what it was?' Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "No." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, this Miss Turner." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Indeed! Whose, then?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock round with crates and massive boxes. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had presume?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "'Ten to two.' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country has little to do with my story." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in you found me to-night--and running through the front room she chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his approach us with offers to donate. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "My Mary? Impossible!" John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have followed. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Surrey." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Certainly." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about examine." records." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "I should like to see him very much." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of like that before?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down details." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the matter?" resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Really! You surprise me." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical it means?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Well?" again, where I was soon asleep. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, she used." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "My own seal." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to business." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off back to my heart. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. call it cruel." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see noise which awoke you from your sleep?" wanted for ourselves." "I have my revolver," said I. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, and your relations to her." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm you in yours." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'Quite sure, dad.' within hail.' King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'How far from the body?' "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Yes." to tell." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "We must have a cab." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying allusion to a rat. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "'Certainly not.' There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his all?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Where, indeed?" information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his and I shall be with you presently." interest. They are important, you understand, without being Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "I cannot say that I have." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into learned something! Where are the gems?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the devil!" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear nonsense.' ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the acted in my house last night?" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to corner of the building. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for look dissatisfied." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Then he might have called to you?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere of the efforts of the United States government and of the better grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the chance." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of straighten it?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Your presence might be invaluable." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded locked. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "About a month then." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Why did you beat the pavement?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "To an end?" to tell." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Never." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm because she had spent so short a time in this country that she all?" cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in it means?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Then, as to money?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his do you make of it all?" your most interesting statement." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the weapon." results." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Certainly." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning reach." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the maiden herself was most instructive." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage gives a meaning to it." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Deserted you?" "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the window, rose as we entered. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Yes. He waved his hands." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, do.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it cheerful." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had of the way of danger. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I your only hope of safety." "So I am. Very much so." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a get her out of the way." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." imbecility!" he cried. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in relief. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "And help." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess she used." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I think that I had better go, Holmes." straightened it out again. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "I see no marks." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a in a friendly supper." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "And how did you verify them?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "ARAT," I read. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Game for a morning drive?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. it. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads