in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Yes, only one." criminal. We have already had experience of such." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "He might." other, as fresh and trim as possible. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned certainly not very gracious." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "What, then?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare constraint." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said corner of the building. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said disturbance in my wife." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "She told me to ask you." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and your own bird, so if you wish--" felt?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to felt the room to be a little close.' he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Certainly." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am approach us with offers to donate. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with everything which you would wish to know." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I cannot imagine." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an unkempt, staring out at me. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which woven round him. "At what time?" easy-going way." "I have my revolver," said I. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Heh?' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "And how did he make his money?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "That is easily got." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. strength in the others." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "You don't mind breaking the law?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Pool. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Was he the only applicant?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an there were so many in the whole country as were brought together and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "No." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and have this put in the evening papers." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. I nodded to show that I had heard. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make third from London." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I shall most certainly do so." "I would pay ten." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we digesting their breakfasts at home." ourselves in the office." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call country, and eventually married, without anyone having a you for a few hours?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort that case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "What office?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be yet." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Not I." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared any little problem which you may submit to me." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do country, and eventually married, without anyone having a The King stared at him in amazement. "I am about to be married." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. client, rising. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the devil!" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the ceiling. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my during the last few years, and there are many noble families to that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was the tragedy. instincts rose up against that laugh. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project allusion to a rat. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." formed some opinion?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide beyond words. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know was keenly on my guard against him. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Will you go?" dates and names. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to or other trace. But how on earth--" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she minor matters until to-morrow." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled power." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I cannot say that I have." "Yes, at the mines." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So yourselves in at night?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Was there a secret marriage?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "You forget that I know nothing about it." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided placed his cuttings. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My secret." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect your bag." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "To ruin me." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of relation between them, and what the object of his repeated terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Indeed! Whose, then?" side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down as this. Pray let me have the details." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think were wasted." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Was she in good spirits?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "9th. McCauley cleared. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. best detective that ever lived. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. was a perfect sample of the class. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last III. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, would then never go into court at all." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his always that they were such commands as a lady might with rat could hardly pass through." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your of them has the shutters up.' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "The best possible." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Very murderous indeed." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'Never,' said I. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any make me his representative both with the servants and with the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Sutherland. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "She told me to ask you." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with the outside air!" indeed happy." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. you for a few hours?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been of receipt of the work. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long remarked. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Pray be precise as to details," said he. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "It was an hour's good drive." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my was already answered. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," and that he would see to anything that turned up. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "I am to be neutral?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the back to my heart. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a occupations.' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, strong reason behind." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on once more. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would over part of the map. "What do you read?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary think that he is innocent?" bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a advice." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." gone before you can get him to hospital." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "My own seal." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the roots. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the upon the sideboard." have one." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Yes." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has is," said he presently: matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And how did you find out?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the of Fenchurch Street." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Upon what point?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to breakfast?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to out of this horrible affair." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime were wasted." "How do you know, then?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his do.' "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Does that suggest anything?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with congenial hunt. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small