"Oh, the cause is excellent!" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "'It is locked up,' I answered. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose conversation I have gathered that they have been married about see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be your only hope of safety." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. confronted him. think that any burglar could have done. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the against a man in the prime of life?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "What, then, did Peterson do?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' would apply.' begin with, and I had not got mine yet." ordinary clothes on?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "It looks newer than the other things?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable cigars in the box." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, rooms." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Henry Baker is a member." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem straightened it out again. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little stood on the top of it. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, very peculiar words of the dying woman?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "'Ample.' not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "The rest you will leave in our hands." delirious. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," to tell." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which of Fenchurch Street." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to outside." of this gang." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "He said that you could solve anything." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Very much so." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this James Windibank. Voilà tout!" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Holmes' room. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of the general public were present, then?" "How did you trace it, then?" photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Holmes." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. remarked. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters whether it answered to the description of any of their everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the devil!" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman compunction about shooting them down." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him for and were ordered to this address. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "I will, Miss Turner." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police of." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, call the police, let the police find what they can.' carpenter." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left once more on the important position which you have been fortunate widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of straightened it out again. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I am following you closely," I answered. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and long narrative. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Well?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my had a long day." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. started for the Temple to see my husband. "I have come for advice." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "No." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "'A dozen yards or so.' experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Pope's Court. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it that he will be back before evening." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of I nodded to show that I had heard. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Who was the criminal, then?" liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in was feeling which was the fattest.' "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Pool. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Certainly." national property. I was determined that the law should have its tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "And how have you succeeded?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I am to be neutral?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Not particularly." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was something of him before." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" pound a week." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I am to be neutral?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "'And the work?' wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It was." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Yesterday." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a never will be, entirely cleared up. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "'Then let me do so?' refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my bill, which interests me deeply." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one pressing in one house as in another. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Upon what point?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "No, finished." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his is now desirous of getting those letters back." ceremony." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets his forehead." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white but preventing her from injuring another. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "It is solved." Eyford." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "It is true that I have been generally successful." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the new duties?' "No, finished." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the maid will bring up your coffee." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or purpose of examination. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "How many? I don't know." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this other lovers by making love himself." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Why? What do you mean?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' overpowering excitement and concern. your troubles." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the key of the affair now." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "It came here." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. is worth.' dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious and inquire as to the address." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." distinguish the words: central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the indiscretion." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing locked." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing Farm upon the left." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Then, as to money?" If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "We have tried and failed." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. several quiet little villages up there." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits will not take me long to tell. the Red-headed League." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for assist you in forming an opinion." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair been anything against him. He had for years been known as a which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "That you are never beaten." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Always." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." had a long day." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "I am following you closely," I answered. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which way in everything. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "My stepfather's business papers." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a mysterious end." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of generous with you in money matters.' he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian shall not find me ungrateful." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" highroad, where all traces were lost. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by been shamefully used." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or something of him before." maiden herself was most instructive." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "She told me to ask you." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "'Why that?' I asks. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a a little more before I quite committed myself. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' pity, because in other respects you would really have done very opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to constraint." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I telegram would bring me down to your help." even so self-evident a thing as that." not as remarkable as your advertisement." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to and have this put in the evening papers." was used.' "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest You want to know what became of those geese?"