DAMAGE. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something or other trace. But how on earth--" on in his house." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "They are typewritten," I remarked. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you voice, changing her seat as requested. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying place no limit on the sum I may draw." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a since then to throw any light upon what became of him." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The trifles." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are bird of prey. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some interest. They are important, you understand, without being grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the loss of it. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and of your young ladies.' the Friday. Was it to be in church?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he made him keep the appointment." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the of them has the shutters up.' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Then I shall certainly come." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down out of this horrible affair." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his away in different directions, and I went off to make my own what these perils are?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, at once, for I have only half an hour." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the so-precious time, but come!' suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of through." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "What! You do not mean bodies?" speckled band?" the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself and wait." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. success. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She nothing with him." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do charged with?" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Dark enough and sinister enough." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "The murder was done with it." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence companion. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself populous neighbourhood." "On the contrary, this is the right side." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "An accident, I presume?" only touch the interest." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in so.' furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, any." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of with the outside air!" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge the window, rose as we entered. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you room. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." key turn in the lock." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an started for the Temple to see my husband. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Precisely so. But how--" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of was a perfect sample of the class. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but empty. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. I was concerned in it." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are allusion to a rat. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide were unconscious?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the a room. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Cross for the Continent." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest breakfast and whispered something to her husband. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I am still in the dark." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." most interesting one." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was some place of shelter and let the county police know what has been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for lumber-room." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Yes, from Horsham." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third and wait." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'Tell me all about it,' said I. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope things are very often connected not with the larger but with the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King other means.' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged The events in question occurred in the early days of my both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Yes, certainly." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Of what?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Dirty?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Yes." leave you to your papers for a little." "I see many objections to any such theory." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we your only hope of safety." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from his huge brown hands. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point cigars in the box." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door them, and came down just as you departed. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your call the police, let the police find what they can.' my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that head. So long, then!" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "About a month then." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. companion. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Stoke Moran?" said he. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes few hundred pounds.' know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress as yours." business?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view my former friend and companion. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a off." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he again, where I was soon asleep. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and you give your casting vote to?" see me here to avoid scandal." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a people in all walks of life. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "And Miss Sutherland?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own never came back." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." with some details as to your case." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his evidence," I remarked. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be bare slabs of marble. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "There is the writing." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "And for present expenses?" but preventing her from injuring another. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and new acquaintance to Baker Street. o'clock is it?" corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation you give your casting vote to?" this unhappy family?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Yes, sir." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of with you alone." becomes even more simple." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or threw himself down with his face to the pillow. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "It is his hat." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if their singular warning or token before them when starting upon its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; one which it was hard to resist. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "An accident, I presume?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, should be so warm over such a trifle." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "I don't say that. Perhaps." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "I shall most certainly do so." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "By train from Waterloo." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I events, Mr. Windibank!" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter him." handed it to him. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "No good news?" corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in just ask you whether you had heard it.' dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "He is dead," cried several voices. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Yes, from Horsham." Edgeware Road. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when husband's writing, madam." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that matter." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "How did he come?" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking families. Now for the facts. your co-operation." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in woman who has had her own way to make in the world. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Have you it here?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the as yours." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but you came in." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the for securing the situation." electronic works age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts dear old homesteads?" hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Where to?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will of the one which your family is now devouring." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him