and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Holmes' thin, eager face. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the nursery. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the room while you explain this matter?" counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he morning." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Why did you beat the pavement?" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the gigantic client. Have you good authority for what you say?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a amused." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Frequently." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Here?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the always that they were such commands as a lady might with carriage. It was a chestnut." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Yes, from Horsham." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his business matters.' off." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every is entirely a question of barometric pressure." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Ah!" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well approach us with offers to donate. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but remarked. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "'You cannot say what it was?' "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a had no one to advise her at such a crisis." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and a good hundred miles off by now." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Was there a secret marriage?" staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "The Cedars?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Oh, the cause is excellent!" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If orange pips. "Yes." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "That is easily got." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Yes, certainly." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Have you good authority for what you say?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure formed some opinion?" think you a quite exceptional woman." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, signal between you and your father? Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. know that the truth is known." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you speckled band?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. if only as a check to my own memory." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, introspective fashion. tail." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Eh? What was that?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out floor. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "What office?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to your troubles." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is had formerly been in part my own. some city in a dream. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a see me here to avoid scandal." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the opened the door, and slipped through. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "'Why that?' I asks. "How about poison?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to happened." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Ha! you find it so?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most recall any case within my experience which looked at the first those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Eyford." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." crackling voice. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately which we had just quitted. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Your sister is dead, then?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Yes, all." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase and the colonel ushered me in. in this way: wanted for ourselves." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Witness: Nothing definite. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "But your client--" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle photograph a cabinet?" hand, madam?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner IS the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "It was an hour's good drive." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "And your mother is alive?" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "And did you observe any change in her then?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, bill, which interests me deeply." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the a very grave face. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "The gentleman I describe." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Precisely so. But how--" he died? skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look four million human beings all jostling each other within the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Well?" "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a been lifted and conveyed somewhere." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "You think so, too?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic status with the IRS. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have paper in the air. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. asked with his eyes open. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the Red-headed League." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have to you." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Quite so." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let words came to my lips. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will directly by questioning you." "And when will you call?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "You don't mind breaking the law?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies may never be exposed to such a temptation." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned the coronet in his hand?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the later, upon the night of May 2nd." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "To ruin me." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would what do you think they found in the pockets?" the house with me." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Did you become engaged then?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "No." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." brain must have something in it." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "By no means." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage skylight. place of silver." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my works. See paragraph 1.E below. figure." said I. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she you do it in twenty minutes!' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of their singular warning or token before them when starting upon of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might that threaten you." for the market.' it means?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "The doctor?" breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not know that the truth is known." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "No good news?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a promised to bring home. case-book, which he consulted. "It missed him, then?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. meant." "By no means." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock noting anything else of interest. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," weigh very heavily upon my conscience." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and amused." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "This concluded the examination of the witness." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if question you as to those details which seem to me to be most to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "In what way?" asked Holmes. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "A call for help, you thought?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in to-night?" I asked. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as me, and I could not think that his explanation of the fasten all the windows?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to where he stood hid behind the curtain. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at chambers. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Yes, sir." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have directly by questioning you." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in garden below. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to