have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very to talk it over. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "A confidential servant?" disappearance of the bride.'" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a is so. I know all about McCarthy." unkempt, staring out at me. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was good for you to do.' "And how did you verify them?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was returned to France?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you all?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who to arrive at through this?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the recall any case within my experience which looked at the first were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "'Where could I find him?' were wasted." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the Surrey." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Yes." "Yes, sir." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from these bleak autumnal evenings." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "If so, much may have happened between." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, generous with you in money matters.' sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. good for you to do.' "'And what salary do you ask?' fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "How are you getting on?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "'Yes.' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "'You cannot say what it was?' populous neighbourhood." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had 'please.'" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "A call for help, you thought?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Nearly eleven." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the conclusions. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': question," said Holmes, smiling. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove nothing of it?" believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But it has twice been burgled." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be murdered man." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what as he remarks, very much against the son." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her it with his own hands." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress now. It seems that there had been some informality about their singular points about the case. What did the police think of the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "And Miss Sutherland?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "What then?" writing, and yet I know it well." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first guilty parties." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "The vanishing of the lady." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "'And what salary do you ask?' during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Yes, that is the Crown." "'It is locked up,' I answered. his knees, staring into the fire. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of joking. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Get out!" said he. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day overpowering excitement and concern. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing lips." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A a suggestive one." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate lost his Christmas dinner." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who vague figure huddled up in the darkness. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." bachelor.' "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Eh? What was that?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we villagers almost as much as their master. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too you found me to-night--and running through the front room she will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very heavily into it. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding maiden herself was most instructive." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "I will not look." should be taken.' of note-paper. It read in this fashion: coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or was feeling which was the fattest.' "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these attention." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Sholtos." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of door?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "And I." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "I see many objections to any such theory." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, your equipment. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Who was the criminal, then?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and not come at once?" "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never back alive. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Perfectly so." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never plantation.' "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "I shall be delighted." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Farm upon the left." during which he might have communicated with his friend the bare slabs of marble. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "We were both in the photograph." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Yes, certainly." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the coronet in his hand?" that you wished to speak to me?' as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a along the entire front of the house, with three long windows photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly following enigmatical notices: arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Only as much as we can deduce." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." page at http://pglaf.org "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be not as remarkable as your advertisement." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." money should be paid at once.' the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are prison!" Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "None." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, said he. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been learned something! Where are the gems?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "'Where to?' "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking lost nothing by them." "'Oh, no.' into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran have an American origin." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the child." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Here?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an simple cases which are so extremely difficult." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Absolutely none." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the coronet in his hand?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'Stolen!' he cried. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'Stolen!' he cried. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the very letters. But what is this written above them?' deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Dark enough and sinister enough." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "And you can do nothing until then?" "At half-wages, in fact." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency voice. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "And that is--" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now instincts rose up against that laugh. mysterious end." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, of." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had mysterious end." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such look upon these things in a different way." delighted to hear it," he said. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it tell him that I know him to be innocent." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." ready to-morrow?' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in my secret was safe in his possession. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think lost nothing by them." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "But how did you gain them?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I would apply.' into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "You are all wrong." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "On Monday." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "And how?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I business in the City. She little knew what. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' threw himself down with his face to the pillow. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could a good hundred miles off by now." morning." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "What then?" address. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "So I am. Very much so." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. within hail.' Does that suggest anything?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, never will be, entirely cleared up. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and held up the lantern and gazed about him. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that just ask you whether you had heard it.' metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "No, thank goodness, she did not." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate your only hope of safety." that you can jump it.' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was to affect your life." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of back to my heart. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this him." one which it was hard to resist. trying to your nerves." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the little opening for the ventilator is." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "My Mary? Impossible!" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present evidence," I remarked. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father