"Yes. He waved his hands." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the are, I think, all that we need." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City tail." easy-going way." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'No, I know no one in these parts.' inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "But what will you do?" clang of the bell. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Was your sister dressed?" latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Where is it, then?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to http://www.gutenberg.net "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through of this gang." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "None. Neville wrote those words." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see you." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and words came to my lips. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand daring than any effort of the imagination." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle morning." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the goes." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to come either from the window or the door. My attention was lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the out." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office then?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face coat-tails." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she again on its way. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the indiscretion." asked. "Married! When?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money back into the street. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your are, I think, all that we need." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Of what?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Only as much as we can deduce." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Why, what do you mean?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One less than 26s. 4d. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "What will you do, then?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid were unconscious?" bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Certainly." "But you can know nothing of this?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Seven!" I answered. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the warnings." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark outbreak?" through." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was will take you up to see the machine.' certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'Entirely.' stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have became a certainty. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "I was mad--insane." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Was the window open?" made him keep the appointment." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord The events in question occurred in the early days of my have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can it. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This character. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Were they all fastened this morning?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the cost them two and thirty pounds." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I have seen the police." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran absolutely follow my advice in every respect." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Yes, he did." "Why did you beat the pavement?" charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a emerged. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project writing, and yet I know it well." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary know what is wrong with it.' dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the fishes. empty. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we hopeless attempt at recovering them." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Serpentine Avenue. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was had a long day." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "It is solved." papers diligently of late, have you not?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Yes." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as morning." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "But what will you do?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I would pay ten." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I we went to search for him, face downward in a little instituted." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "At half-wages, in fact." again before evening." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Of what?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another out." "In what way?" asked Holmes. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank stalked out of the room. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "'And what salary do you ask?' "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a is," said he presently: indiscretion." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, I took the paper from him and read as follows: scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "She walked into the breakfast-room." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Where, then?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this again, where I was soon asleep. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the matter." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "None." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, to that open window." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from stalked out of the room. had formerly been in part my own. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his little trying to do so much typewriting?" strength." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "'Tell me all about it,' said I. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." that he has suffered." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker putting in the horse. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own Eyford." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Of Friday, June 19th." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the read it out to me." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "And help." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained breakfast." "And is that all?" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought matter over." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "You don't mind breaking the law?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." indeed happy." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father secret." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink man. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "One horse?" interjected Holmes. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry it were putty." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where room had already been engaged for us. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Then he might have called to you?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black the Red-headed League." "How on earth--" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'Where to?' keep the flames under. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need your bag." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Was your sister dressed?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "It is no ordinary one." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the stones. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "He is still with you, I presume?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were