swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an taking in every detail of the apartment. "No, finished." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "I shall be delighted." never to learn it at all." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to-night?' "How did that help you?" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the matter?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. British peeress.'" better grown goose." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing been able to understand it, in a very few words. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." giving me time to thank him. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not it with his own hands." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. voice, changing her seat as requested. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "A confidential servant?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Yes." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Project Gutenberg-tm works. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the fattened it expressly for you.' fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Very murderous indeed." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will wanted for ourselves." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Not yet." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I am armed." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Certainly, madam." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address suggested at once that there must be a communication between the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the on in his house." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a not interfere, come what may. You understand?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Game for a morning drive?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could of the vacancies.' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out room. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent the inner apartment." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE arms and began to sob in a high treble key. whole matter to your consideration." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "You are hungry," I remarked. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without tell me that you intended to go into harness." business at Coburg Square is serious." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle said I. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "But you have hopes?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "No, I had a dozen." "What steps will you take?" I asked. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Yes, I have one waiting." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that way: he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'Why that?' I asks. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of strong reason behind." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the armchair which I pushed forward for him. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, to miss it." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could during which he might have communicated with his friend the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between come either from the window or the door. My attention was digesting their breakfasts at home." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Dark enough and sinister enough." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a the matter." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "What office?" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' himself. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it to-night?' sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "No bad?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, hour." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded II. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind nonsense.' fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his evidence," I remarked. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." once more to my work. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and the church but not where the lady lived." me. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the October 9, 1890. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. head. So long, then!" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "We must have a cab." some terrible trap for her." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs distinguish the words: initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some gone before you can get him to hospital." least a most suspicious remark." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Yes, at the mines." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to future lives." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" dates and names. families. Now for the facts. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "I am all attention, madam." respectable self." Serpentine Avenue. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "And I to find an enemy." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "How about poison?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am distinguish the words: hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the inquest, and which are worth considering." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend of the efforts of the United States government and of the better work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Will you bet, then?" not fit the lock." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, and glanced through. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout occurred." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, this man was intellectual?" characteristics, but those are the more obvious." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on locked." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Not him." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp purpose of examination. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business right! Sit down and let us talk it over." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town photograph?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so second window is the one that I jumped from." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a him." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. it. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. how narrow had been my escape. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that appeared upon the scene." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "No, I am descending." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Surrey." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he it." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "How on earth--" "This concluded the examination of the witness." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. read it out to me." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and gone before you can get him to hospital." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Precisely." "Entirely." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I would pay ten." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Certainly." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Dr. Becher's." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's his cane at the bell-pull. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I of his shoulders. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a once more to my work. had died away into the silence from which it rose. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "But she could not love him." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to good-night and bustled off upon her way. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could must compliment you." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "And I to find an enemy." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had presented more singular features than that which was associated to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "But to whom?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was during which he might have communicated with his friend the from the brougham. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the interests were the same as his." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and tell him that I know him to be innocent." in my life." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may not personally threatened." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." call for it in person on Monday morning.' eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by My friend smiled. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "None." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "No bad?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of singular points about the case. What did the police think of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas the tragedy. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned official police." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Then I do not see the point."