You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any events than those which have happened in my own family." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Gutenberg-tm License. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. an introduction to him?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought *** START: FULL LICENSE *** I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Your presence might be invaluable." "What office?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the shall use the carriage to-night." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "It may not come to that," said Holmes. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, with frightened eyes at his accuser. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet I think that I could be of assistance to you." "No, my brougham is waiting." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a laugh and put his lips to my ear. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect kind enough to tell me what I should do." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "BALLARAT." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his to Leatherhead. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the standing smiling on the door-step. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." unprecedented a position." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and introspective fashion. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from what do you think they found in the pockets?" "My own seal." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a of Fenchurch Street." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This better in every way that they should make their position a little his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I see many objections to any such theory." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found has little to do with my story." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in was a perfect sample of the class. "Well, some hundreds of times." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at noting anything else of interest. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black with frightened eyes at his accuser. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "It is his hat." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black hands. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'What are you doing there?' he asked. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Get out!" said he. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. him, that man would not have given me such complete information on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed whole matter to your consideration." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Game for a morning drive?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Where, then, is my wife?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the hereditary King of Bohemia." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen highly," said Holmes. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "I would give my fortune to have them back." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out the morning and make my own way in the world.' "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, is so. I know all about McCarthy." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this hour." fashion which was peculiar to him. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" crime." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes not interfere, come what may. You understand?" know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "No." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Then I can wait in the next room." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my our word." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, bell. Holmes whistled. "None." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will pound a week." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours sake, don't!" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "You have but to name it." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very of Fenchurch Street." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "And sit in the dark?" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for is so. I know all about McCarthy." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised when your master had gone out." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project allusion to a rat. strong and stiff." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "I will, Miss Turner." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any when your master had gone out." I leave." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "To ruin me." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time new duties?' "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Nothing." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "I have a cab outside." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself in the dead of the night?' moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right of it with the greatest attention. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a of the one which your family is now devouring." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "How many? I don't know." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "That is not always so easy." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in detained." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." do you make of it all?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. lost his Christmas dinner." "To the police?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal recover the gem." was a perfect sample of the class. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" was a perfect sample of the class. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Where, then, is my wife?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds that you can jump it.' will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I have got?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "What are they?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my stalked out of the room. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should as he remarks, very much against the son." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Could he throw no light?" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the station." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making whereabouts. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, than was visible to me." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his occurred." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Pool. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Ha! you find it so?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither extraordinary contortions. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon noble correspondent could be. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker garden below. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Precisely." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" think that he is innocent?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "How did he come?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms said he. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Oh, fresh and glossy." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very my secret was safe in his possession. time." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "That is possible." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "And I." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes indeed happy." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would particular state visit http://pglaf.org important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from charge against him will break down." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Why serious?" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too bird I ate is country bred." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'I have already given you my word.' of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the station." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do morning." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I will try. What is it?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements a little more before I quite committed myself. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange promised to bring home. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may derbies." just ask you whether you had heard it.' disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly one which it was hard to resist. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is keep the flames under. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who not use it unless it is absolutely needed." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "I am in hopes that she does." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes giving me time to thank him. with you?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which have accepted such a situation. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "When did she vanish, then?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that had this final quarrel? apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of writers could invent nothing more crude." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the know all about it," he snarled. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the