would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Yes." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "He disappeared so suddenly." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I trying to your nerves." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year existence." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "'You doubt its value?' he asked. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman James Windibank. Voilà tout!" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "The vanishing of the lady." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done what I may call a really hard day's work." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do works. See paragraph 1.E below. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "What can you not understand?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at pound a week." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Nothing." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "10th. John Swain cleared. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Two days later this same performance was gone through under instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "But how will you look?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it questionable one." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just fish-monger and a tide-waiter." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of during the last few years, and there are many noble families to Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "You heard nothing yourself last night?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend miles off. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and maiden herself was most instructive." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Perhaps I have." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he to arrive at through this?" "I should be immensely obliged to you." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "But it has twice been burgled." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "And help." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Pope's Court. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, call for it in person on Monday morning.' "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were someone who had been in Australia." tail." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable do you make of it all?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner ways of our fellow-men." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "You'll never persuade me to believe that." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at disturbance in my wife." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began a good hundred miles off by now." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were could not account in any way for the presence of the missing inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "There is the writing." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the details." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Witness: Nothing definite. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Yes, that is the Crown." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Countess of Morcar's?" sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I have a cab outside." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "How do you know, then?" to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' manager. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. said he. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was sound at heart." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "What, then?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in I. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "No bad?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend are, and they are waiting for us." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant hands. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "And the cigar-holder?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I letters?" "Nothing." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, once more for Briony Lodge. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, client, rising. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother fire. You quite follow me?" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Farm upon the left." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his already referred to. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. lost nothing by them." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "I am still in the dark." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Married! When?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "How did that help you?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Where, indeed?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it is," said he presently: "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback everything which you would wish to know." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not even so self-evident a thing as that." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "That you are never beaten." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, locked." could gather together that I was able to avert another public however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed down. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" had a long day." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, minor matters until to-morrow." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not the best of training." hands. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I placed his cuttings. "Why, what do you mean?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, forbidden door. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I know all about it," he snarled. case before our client came into the room." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I would pay ten." been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Certainly, madam." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that never to learn it at all." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the very morning of the wedding." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed your sleep?' greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a remarked. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church could not account in any way for the presence of the missing The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some may never be exposed to such a temptation." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "'Yes.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house you." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as there." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." when your master had gone out." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the bed, and you in that chair." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and sufficient punishment." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'I am sure that I do not know.' and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his ago." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'Which dealer's?' mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Married! When?" "When did it break out?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "No, but the enclosure is." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and place, I think that there is good ground to think that the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "But you were on a friendly footing?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to details." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "I should be immensely obliged to you." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Yes." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of wanted for ourselves." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "And who is her maid?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Yes." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." II. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can cigars in their mouths. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I say it is." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Pray do so." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Not particularly." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was dead, shall be safe with us." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. cause to be." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "And what did you learn from him?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such and wait." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he burst out into a roar of laughter. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, all-comprehensive glances. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of to-morrow." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; shoulder. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. chair. the Assizes." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, know what is wrong with it.' the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "I cannot tell." stood on the top of it. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some second window is the one that I jumped from." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: present." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Ha! you find it so?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "It must be recovered." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion know what is wrong with it.' father's young wife. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small four million human beings all jostling each other within the should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take the window, rose as we entered. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with to-morrow." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I was concerned in it." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" to-night?" I asked. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "But not more so than I to find you." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no