characteristics, but those are the more obvious." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has someone who had been in Australia." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from lost his Christmas dinner." "How on earth--" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at detained." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" again before evening." papers diligently of late, have you not?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a not within a twentieth part of the market price." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have seven miles from Eyford Station.' hand, madam?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a shoulder. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in it. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "She will not sell." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make the ceiling. "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." bedroom door." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary congratulate you again." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "'What are you doing there?' he asked. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "About a month then." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'Where could I find him?' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would letters?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I promise," said Holmes. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still ready to-morrow?' true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when it." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a brandy and water within his reach. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "And you can do nothing until then?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "And when will you call?" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Holmes' thin, eager face. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Could he throw no light?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a conceal it?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and there were one or two details which were new to me. But the ordinary clothes on?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were be there in time for your coming." "I say that I have solved it." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice business in the City. She little knew what. "It came here." think that any burglar could have done. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a his eyes and forehead. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. was already answered. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions just called myself is not exactly my own." horse could go." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her the window, rose as we entered. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "And your mother is alive?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was guilty parties." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. corner of the building. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'I am sure if I had known--' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations all that?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your vague figure huddled up in the darkness. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Yes, it was twisted." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "But to whom?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get it were putty." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. that he will be back before evening." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were there is a decided draught." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Holmes, the busybody!" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, strength of mind to control. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I am all attention, madam." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I interested in these little problems, and since you are good weary and pale-looking. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how your only hope of safety." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you presented more singular features than that which was associated other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of his face which made him a very different person to the round, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we any little problem which you may submit to me." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat that I am arrested." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as of the vacancies.' Leadenhall Street--and--" "And now?" He raised his hand. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two foresight and the moral retrogression?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "None. Neville wrote those words." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high me. You must get home instantly and act." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot telegram would bring me down to your help." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the directly by questioning you." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Because he was handy and would come cheap." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on quick march!" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in key turn in the lock." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then used to be." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated cost them two and thirty pounds." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman the matter." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may there is a decided draught." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Sutherland?" "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew him and tried to hold him back. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining was used.' other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. him and tried to hold him back. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Eh? What was that?" "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." crowd. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Have you her photograph?" "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'And what are they worth?' I asked. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no and glanced through. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in way in." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and there." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but in the dead of the night?' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we she might be summoned. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Nearly eleven." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall had a long day." evidence," I remarked. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away you?' "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Did you become engaged then?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself points to suicide?" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get retorted upon me, and I on you." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. character. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have was it brought him the coronet? is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. a little more before I quite committed myself. "Absolutely none." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I brain must have something in it." "Yes." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. at a side door. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and fire. You quite follow me?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered second window is the one that I jumped from." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet to affect your life." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were thought that she would have been so carried away." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "And Irene Adler?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "No, I had a dozen." public press." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back furiously. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of conversation I have gathered that they have been married about muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the taking in every detail of the apartment. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Stolen." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while speckled band?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "What, then, did Peterson do?" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "It's nothing of the kind." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, such person." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of again before evening." second window is the one that I jumped from." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime young Openshaw's."