France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home I held the little printed slip to the light. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the derbies." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door gone. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Have you her photograph?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'And what salary do you ask?' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the matter." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose not come at once?" matter." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call distance from the station, and there we found the young lady The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Yes, it would be as well." everything which you would wish to know." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The careless servant girl?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but way in." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to my former friend and companion. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a not personally threatened." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the date of his supposed suicide." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true to Leatherhead. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" him to be an active member of the medical profession." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could could not account in any way for the presence of the missing to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Pope's Court. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Holmes' face clouded over. "You have a clue?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." you, my dear young lady?' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker very morning of my second wedding." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so should be taken.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "But you have hopes?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" your equipment. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official conduct the inquiry." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "But what harm can there be in that?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I populous neighbourhood." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by away into the river." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Yes." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." any little problem which you may submit to me." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "My last client of the sort was a king." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a been with you?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the station." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Have you her photograph?" Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "They are typewritten," I remarked. noble correspondent could be. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end be there in time for your coming." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Not yet." "Then he might have called to you?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "You think so, too?" to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave lost his Christmas dinner." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently sneer upon his pale face. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Bought." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be was keenly on my guard against him. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "There is the writing." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed read it out to me." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start gives a meaning to it." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Henry Baker is a member." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has room?" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the coroner come to?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and the colonel ushered me in. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check detained." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the it." "It is very kind of you." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Never." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "What shall I do?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Yes." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "I cannot think." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my him nearly every evening." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To looking up at the numbers of the houses." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying stood on the top of it. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "What do you make of that, Watson?" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "She showed me, as I told you she would." notes," he said. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to point in the dark hollow of his hand. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project will take you up to see the machine.' that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the date of his supposed suicide." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the the night.' and the church but not where the lady lived." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a of it with the greatest attention. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." read it out to me." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. that?' having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps which our visitor detailed to us. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still present." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" very old mansion. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Your French gold?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He think that he is innocent?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "What have you to say now?" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Your sister is dead, then?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I open." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "'Never.' "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my had no one to advise her at such a crisis." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Then what has happened to him?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Frequently." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "We must have a cab." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no husband's writing, madam." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where him." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Holmes' face clouded over. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you what these perils are?" case-book, which he consulted. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "But not more so than I to find you." side. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. them?" "Who by?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to tackle the facts." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "'Tell me all about it,' said I. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Yes, at the mines." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man them present such singular features as the strange train of "And leave your case unfinished?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told than to us. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. have had none more fantastic than this." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this which we had just quitted. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Entirely." and the church but not where the lady lived." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me DAMAGE. room had already been engaged for us. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a off." "It is his hat." is acting for the best. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at The note was undated, and without either signature or address. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, handed it to him. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "And on what day did he meet his death?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm ashen face. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Dr. Gregory B. Newby stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Why? What do you mean?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day married her." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. grasp, he hurried from the room. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. undoubtedly my uncle's." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Munro.' heavy and sharp instrument." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the must compliment you." "What will you say?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you beg that you will break it off." rose-bushes. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I cannot as yet see any connection." sake, don't!" trying to your nerves." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "No legal papers or certificates?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, outbreak?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine nonsense.' showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "How can you tell that?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his coat-tails." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read Again Holmes raved in the air. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new my special province." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "I have solved it." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" there in twenty minutes." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my must be when I saw the door open.' delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you