prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a someone who had been in Australia." and no precautions can guard against." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "But she could not love him." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Then I do not see the point." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "'Yes, sir.' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Arthur Conan Doyle the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the matter over." past. flock.' another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a appointment with me for six o'clock?" http://www.gutenberg.net saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that the stable lane now." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who questionable one." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country the armchair which I pushed forward for him. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked ventilator." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "And the murderer?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "But the mystery?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper are windows in it, of course?" if only as a check to my own memory." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official in this way: "A confidential servant?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was think that he is innocent?" light and attacked it." meant it for the best. notes," he said. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him hour?' broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "What!" he roared. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At there." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of of your young ladies.' "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "You don't mind breaking the law?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "No, I think that I'll take it." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "I know where it is." it." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Come in!" said Holmes. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the little trying to do so much typewriting?" in him." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able daring than any effort of the imagination." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You have carte blanche." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the whereabouts. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, handed it to him. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Where to?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "I shall most certainly do so." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly might have a private word with us. and wait." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Do you know him?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Only as much as we can deduce." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary relief. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "And leave your case unfinished?" not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few present." of it with the greatest attention. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when to have been novel and of interest." burst out into a roar of laughter. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. bird of prey. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has house for five minutes.' pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an views." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, and it need not interfere very much with one's other nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." of the vacancies.' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and instincts rose up against that laugh. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, retorted upon me, and I on you." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there ill-usage at the hands of fortune. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Sutherland?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," in this way: I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Never to return." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Not in the least." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was tell them apart.' "On Monday." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "I will get her to show me." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps that he has suffered." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits of the one which your family is now devouring." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be point in the dark hollow of his hand. as yours." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "No." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was invisible to me," I remarked. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to ashen face. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed ill-usage at the hands of fortune. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to my special province." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, I nodded to show that I had heard. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since his face. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Tired-looking or fresh?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present train.' the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "But I am all in the dark." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for friends, not even his own brother. "From his hat?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were time." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, results." back alive. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. floor. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the coronet in his hands?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when respectable self." own family. detective. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, for and were ordered to this address. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of me. "What is it?" kindly on the shoulder. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it question," said Holmes, smiling. the house with me." washing it down with a long draught of water. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful eavesdroppers?' "I would pay ten." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and prisoner's face. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up License. You must require such a user to return or are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." Foundation wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better not within a twentieth part of the market price." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "At the wedding breakfast." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the throat." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the little opening for the ventilator is." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to have accepted such a situation. "No legal papers or certificates?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be you." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the seem to you to be relevant or not." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "And how did you verify them?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I upon the shelf for the interim." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. cigars in their mouths. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the success. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land important." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in imbecility!" he cried. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "A thing like a cleaver," said he. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, rooms." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this were new raised from a basin. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom taking in every detail of the apartment. "What will you say?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Where did he live, then?" burst out into a roar of laughter. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House father's young wife. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "A greater distance to travel." "I was mad--insane." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were London for the present?" "What are they?" "Then, as to money?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Very much so." shall use the carriage to-night." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" said he at last. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and appointment with me for six o'clock?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Entirely." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he III. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, never came back." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "No, my brougham is waiting." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable occupations.' his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. leave you to your papers for a little." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce not fit the lock." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I would pay ten." "But what will you do?" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the from the brougham. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of not, dad?" she asked. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the tell him that I know him to be innocent." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Here?" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself