skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." know that the truth is known." legal crime." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. man. you do it in twenty minutes!' somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "BALLARAT." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from that he will be back before evening." was used.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, formed some opinion?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, dates and names. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I should like to see him very much." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "But his left-handedness." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to the dangers which encompass me." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, in darkness. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was despair." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "What is it?" are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "No." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made interest. They are important, you understand, without being Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed disturbance in my wife." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It tell me that you intended to go into harness." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Was your sister dressed?" appeared upon the scene." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "His face fell immediately. late." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Then he might have called to you?" he died? its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left closing the door. Munro.' and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in breakfast." DISSOLVED. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very hereditary King of Bohemia." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. out." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "'I have heard so.' became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the ashen face. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended that?' "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought in the dead of the night?' brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we she used." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, not personally threatened." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign brandy and water within his reach. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly are, and they are waiting for us." carried out of court." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the window, rose as we entered. "By no means." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Yes." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a gone. said he. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I cannot tell." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault Mary, has deserted me." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I should like to see him very much." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "But not more so than I to find you." help us in this matter." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "And for present expenses?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "What office?" "I am to be neutral?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have telegram would bring me down to your help." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity 'please.'" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say down from London to inquire more deeply into it." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found maiden herself was most instructive." London for the present?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard me have 200 pounds?' had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, tension within him. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened how narrow had been my escape. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all murdered man." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "But she will refuse." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'I have heard so.' night.' said he. posted to-day." second window is the one that I jumped from." absorbing." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic sufficient punishment." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the bears upon the case?" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, me. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read tell me that you intended to go into harness." "'In my own bureau.' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "No." seen the man in the road." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." dead, shall be safe with us." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their said I. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'And the work?' "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on and all of them with the keenest interest. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "But how could you guess what the motive was?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small this as likely?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which without success. At last the little money which I had saved began front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn as this. Pray let me have the details." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Of what?" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I have solved it." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the The summons was a brief and urgent one. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. success. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that and have this put in the evening papers." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it your only hope of safety." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas breakfast?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your cheerful." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime lamp in his hand. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "I say that I have solved it." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "In San Francisco, a year ago." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, this poor creature." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Why did you pick him?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss suddenly upon us." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the inquest, and which are worth considering." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a frequently gained my first real insight into the character of because she had spent so short a time in this country that she stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' appeal." go back?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" at once, for I have only half an hour." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be and looked back. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up of it with the greatest attention. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no License. You must require such a user to return or twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "I was mad--insane." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried crackling voice. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "They are typewritten," I remarked. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "How often?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "How did he come?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "His face fell immediately. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "When did it break out?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "She told me to ask you." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, delirious. asked. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry possible that we could bring him back to her? grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "'A dozen yards or so.' for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "And Miss Sutherland?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Game for a morning drive?" Project Gutenberg-tm works. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Entirely." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Could he throw no light?" "'What, the red-headed man?' "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes God! What an exposure! What can I do?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "And help." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Yes." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Never to return." "It is his hat." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." matter over." fashion which was peculiar to him. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Yes." highroad, where all traces were lost. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Then I am your man." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Ten will be early enough." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with that he has suffered." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "The landlord of the Alpha." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Always." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Street. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "His face fell immediately. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For