father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and letters?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. But Holmes shook his head gravely. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the house with me." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of keep the flames under. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and again on its way. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' second window is the one that I jumped from." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" British peeress.'" like gravel from a pit.' or other trace. But how on earth--" "It is no ordinary one." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective gentleman's clothes. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside you in yours." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "My private note-paper." important." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "'Yes, it was gone.' Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them deduce something from that?" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "I cannot think." narrative." "Was she in good spirits?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Did your wife hear all this?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "His face fell immediately. feature." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among soul! here is her carriage at the door." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "But his left-handedness." have an American origin." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "If I can be of use." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend your only hope of safety." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "The murder was done with it." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "On the contrary, this is the right side." noting anything else of interest. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "'You cannot say what it was?' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." notes," he said. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived to have been novel and of interest." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "'A dozen yards or so.' all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and became a certainty. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Well, some hundreds of times." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy cup of tea. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to who was a member of your goose club." furiously. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "In the cells." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you as the one I chose?' King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "And how did you verify them?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "And how?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "What! You do not mean bodies?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Frequently." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's one of them." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. tension within him. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his been deceived." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe helping a boy to put up the shutters. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always you want, then?' records." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was place of silver." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat the nursery. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, call for it in person on Monday morning.' which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was until night should bring an explanation. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still read it out to me." "What will you do, then?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution and wait." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the the one as in the other." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, keep the flames under. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel But Holmes shook his head gravely. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be said Mr. Holder. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." see me here to avoid scandal." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin formed some opinion?" "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Lee, in the county of Kent." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Yes." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were unprofitable." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Yes, they were peculiar boots." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Entirely." The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Not I." power." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & daring than any effort of the imagination." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook been lifted and conveyed somewhere." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to this remarkable episode. himself in a perplexing position. "I was afraid that you were engaged." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Here?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the brain must have something in it." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late hardly wander." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or examination of the premises, but without finding anything which The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel II. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate then?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "And what then?" you." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "What, then, did Peterson do?" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "From his hat?" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm upon the white wrist. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "The gentleman I describe." place no limit on the sum I may draw." "He is still with you, I presume?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four this Miss Turner." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I salesman. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Then you may entirely rely on me." we went to search for him, face downward in a little "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very figure." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "In answer to an advertisement." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent his face. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the loss of it. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, throat." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "It may not come to that," said Holmes. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while not use it unless it is absolutely needed." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but has little to do with my story." vanished into the darkness. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Entirely." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "'Yes, sir.' in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. late!' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I am armed." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and hour?' endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he generous with you in money matters.' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus stammered. thirty. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of shall use the carriage to-night." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "That is it on the dressing-table." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'I am sure if I had known--' that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, know that the truth is known." "But you have hopes?" Holmes rather sternly. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Where, then, is my wife?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. fat-encircled eyes. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Precisely." most interesting one." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and never came back." face and glided from the room. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so mysterious business." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "None." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "This concluded the examination of the witness." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "That is not always so easy." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "She told me to ask you." Doctor, of the paper and the date." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Very murderous indeed." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the such attractions and accomplishments?' "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "And you don't know his address?" "So it appears." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our my room." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it like gravel from a pit.' distance from the station, and there we found the young lady you?" a very grave face. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his lost nothing by them." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly he died? and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their ill-usage at the hands of fortune. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case of a light. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of my special province." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "He disappeared so suddenly." strength in the others." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It guilty one." "To the police?" "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the my secret was safe in his possession. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your question," said Holmes, smiling. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet to you." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or examination of the premises, but without finding anything which finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, union?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily questionable one." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning generous with you in money matters.' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut been able to understand it, in a very few words. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "What will you do, then?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have and files of the old papers, following the future career of every words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning back to my heart. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Yes. He waved his hands." himself to tell his story. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. fashion which was peculiar to him. away into the river." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party him to be an active member of the medical profession." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has mystery." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had