hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time conversation I have gathered that they have been married about that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when reach." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and during the last few years, and there are many noble families to strength." astonishment. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that do you make of it all?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg should be taken.' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." quickly through a disagreeable task. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny him." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "But his left-handedness." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight bedroom door." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. foresight and the moral retrogression?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was children over to America with him, so that I found myself without noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." them?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "But of what society?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Then I am your man." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "And sit in the dark?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been he. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was delighted to hear it," he said. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Precisely." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the I approached. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was of the vacancies.' also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Stolen, then." your Highness to the police-station?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." would apply.' confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the coronet in his hands?" "And what did you see?" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side heavy and sharp instrument." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last bedroom door." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Then I am your man." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he right! Sit down and let us talk it over." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Entirely." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, conclusions. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'Stolen!' he cried. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been away to you." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I do." "And who is her maid?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Where did he live, then?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. good for you to do.' "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "And the murderer?" "ARAT," I read. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De to talk it over. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "And how did you verify them?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part affection." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. promised to bring home. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was is a common subject for conversation. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are works. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy said Mr. Holder. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Come in!" said Holmes. "Pray do so." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a other, as fresh and trim as possible. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "My dear Holmes!" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Yes." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "My dear Holmes!" despaired of." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "You have compromised yourself seriously." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little and it need not interfere very much with one's other with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you front of the hall door has given its name to the place. your room." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not this truth that in these little records of our cases which you there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. drawing your inferences." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'Why that?' I asks. your bag." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Nothing?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a know what is wrong with it.' events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the the matter?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "My last client of the sort was a king." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One direction." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "That sounds a little paradoxical." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "What then?" chemical work which was so dear to him. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we manager. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "And your father? Did you tell him?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, amused." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "When did she vanish, then?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I joking. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Well?" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock floor. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an this truth that in these little records of our cases which you which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, wife's character?" "And now?" He raised his hand. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "We were both in the photograph." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & to his chemical studies. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting Heh?' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that and the whole place is in a blaze." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Do you know him?" "Yes, but only for you and me." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Now, then, what's the last entry?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be shoulder; "he's all right." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "And how in the world did you find them?" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my national property. I was determined that the law should have its that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You the nursery. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "'Very good.' explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "On your arm?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began upon the sideboard." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "And now?" He raised his hand. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is think, you have already met." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I have a cab outside." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "You have carte blanche." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where gbnewby@pglaf.org dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I promise," said Holmes. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" and glanced through. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the inner apartment." "And now?" I asked. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Yes." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, went to the Alpha were town bred." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the certainly do as you advise." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Very well, sir. And this stone?" shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall will he say when he returns?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, locked. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at presume?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." disappearance of the bride.'" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told fact, we may call it conclusive." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'In my own bureau.' also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they lamp in his hand. "'Why that?' I asks. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Not I." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." vanished into the darkness. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon overpowering excitement and concern. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Surrey." row." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of a room. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your to a light-house. open." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man before, for it was considerably after midnight. you in yours." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing danger is over." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my too. conduct the inquiry." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Not particularly." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "You heard nothing yourself last night?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an mystery may be cleared along those lines." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when acted in my house last night?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take distance from the station, and there we found the young lady should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good some place of shelter and let the county police know what has For additional contact information: was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Leave Paddington by the 11:15." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the your own bird, so if you wish--" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Then he might have called to you?" better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Come in!" said Holmes. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "9th. McCauley cleared. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at second window is the one that I jumped from." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "He said too much." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Stolen." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the was it brought him the coronet? business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm I held the little printed slip to the light. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was cigars in the box." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, late!' The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best distance from the station, and there we found the young lady