the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you wanted for ourselves." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Pope's Court, Fleet Street." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste outsides of the windows. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across used to be." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. this remarkable episode. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly knowledge of the world." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the on in his house." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Of Friday, June 19th." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to handed it to him. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they certainly not very gracious." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning recover the gem." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "But she will refuse." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Street. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "It came here." all that?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. and I shall be with you presently." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Yes." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan girl said." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "And now?" I asked. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I shoulder. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Surrey." "But the mystery?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Cross for the Continent." second window is the one that I jumped from." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "And now?" He raised his hand. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been lamp in his hand. photograph a cabinet?" into the room. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Perhaps we may make them less so." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Nothing." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking me what he had done with the three missing stones. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Yes, I have one waiting." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I outside." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "It came here." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is is," said he presently: us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the bottom.' handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." vanished into the darkness. there in twenty minutes." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as it." death." presume?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair memory. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant handed it to him. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some details." His name is Francis Prosper." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The me." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot plantation.' little trying to do so much typewriting?" reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, business matters.' "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "I have solved it." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried prove to be little relation between the different incidents of subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Pray do so." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "What! You do not mean bodies?" the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "You were travelling in the States?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I until night should bring an explanation. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "I cannot tell." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been have had none more fantastic than this." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it the child." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project this as likely?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "There is the writing." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as your co-operation." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "And sit in the dark?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "No." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that article?" firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Has he come with you to-night?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "It came here." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the stable lane now." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Perfectly so." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see here." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. points to suicide?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "You horrify me!" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert directors, with the result that you have seen." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." have one." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Well." "Absolutely none." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, be. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Breckinridge is his name." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Not in the least." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "A thing like a cleaver," said he. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "So I am. Very much so." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own entirely devoid of interest." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, mystery." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as For additional contact information: her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit respectable self." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" joking. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." views." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who hour?' have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' have had none more fantastic than this." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which round with crates and massive boxes. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my written. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are you understand?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "To ruin me." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the coroner come to?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two companion. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "I never have." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." you understand?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Yes, it would be as well." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As hair?' however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "On the contrary, this is the right side." unprecedented a position." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "You think that he is dead?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." something of him before." goes." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and this Miss Turner." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "And why?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his be sorry for having acted so harshly." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be of the efforts of the United States government and of the better It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late girl said." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "My photograph." enter into my head. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By galvanised. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. putting in the horse. congenial hunt. foresight and the moral retrogression?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." off." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of will be renamed. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the narrative." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "And the cigar-holder?" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the very morning of the wedding." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Yes, only one." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I cause to be." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four disturbance in my wife." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "You don't mind breaking the law?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" yards of it?' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." all that?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "I shall be delighted." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of pierced for earrings?" us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your already referred to. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in not as remarkable as your advertisement." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, lamp. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he him and tried to hold him back. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the