beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It think that any burglar could have done. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'I am sure if I had known--' 1.E.9. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "My private note-paper." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "No?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall is acting for the best. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Entirely." certainly not very gracious." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it yards of it?' hurried by. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Well." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the presented more singular features than that which was associated that I can to serve you." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and front of me. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "By no means." legal crime." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a of Mr. Rucastle's." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for asked with his eyes open. business." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up 'please.'" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I again on its way. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "I think that it is very probable." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the national property. I was determined that the law should have its "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It Chief Executive and Director you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The acquaintance?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very works. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an some place of shelter and let the county police know what has We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Really! You surprise me." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. sofa. This way, please!" "And I say east," said my patient. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed her also." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "It was." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Oh, yes, easily." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "I was afraid that you were engaged." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not just called myself is not exactly my own." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled in the hope of finding them." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. brain must have something in it." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "That's no good." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was 11:15.' enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the armchair which I pushed forward for him. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "'How far from the body?' Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "What! a murderous attack?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." plantation.' and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But peculiar to him. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "I don't believe it." furiously. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? lumber-room." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in a monotonous occupation." "Yes?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It bird of prey. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the so-precious time, but come!' "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "How often?" as he folded up the epistle. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my shall use the carriage to-night." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We woman who has had her own way to make in the world. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'Very good.' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a there was no need for father to know." there in twenty minutes." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Then, as to money?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "And I say east," said my patient. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "What do you mean?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Ample.' across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "That was it, sir." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I say that I have solved it." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "A greater distance to travel." despaired of." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "It certainly sounds feasible." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of observed. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless corner of the building. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the warnings." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be here." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "No, my brougham is waiting." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of know that the truth is known." "Who by?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "I say it is." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had over with notes and figures. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a whole matter to your consideration." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" my little problems." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Were they all fastened this morning?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "And how?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." window when the police appeared." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "And you can do nothing until then?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "None. Neville wrote those words." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box used to be." good for you to do.' laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring happened." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to late!' "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." child?' the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Foundation demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "I was mad--insane." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." get the tickets." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my extraordinary contortions. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." room had already been engaged for us. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." salesman. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner legal crime." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered fattened it expressly for you.' I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of suspect him." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." to talk it over. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "And that is--" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Very murderous indeed." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to arrested. You then--" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his But Holmes shook his head gravely. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "You horrify me." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and present." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the and the whole place is in a blaze." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there speckled band?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made happened." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "The Coroner: What do you mean? you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I warn you that they are very incomplete." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with ways of our fellow-men." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an will not take me long to tell. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not you in yours." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could there was no need for father to know." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "But how?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I