said he. in his power. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as answer." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" strength in the others." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At problems help me to do so." reach." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Have you her photograph?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb gone. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the house with me." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug during which he might have communicated with his friend the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Nothing." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "The landlord of the Alpha." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. a suggestive one." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left individual and becomes the badge of a society." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not God! What an exposure! What can I do?" admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, highroad, where all traces were lost. minor matters until to-morrow." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done me where it went to?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other call for it in person on Monday morning.' was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "By all means." becomes even more simple." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on he. stammered. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." she might be summoned. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Yes, he did." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Yes, all." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. in a friendly supper." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "'Certainly not. But why?' his face. good-night and bustled off upon her way. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be experiences." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "I would pay ten." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each that the gas is not laid on in his house?" outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "It is possible." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "You think so, too?" in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings point in the dark hollow of his hand. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the child." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson and capable of preserving a secret.' not as remarkable as your advertisement." learned something! Where are the gems?" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her locked. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily your most interesting statement." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest during that time.' call it cruel." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "From his hat?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, would then never go into court at all." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler do you make of it all?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' away to you." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable such attractions and accomplishments?' passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Yes. He waved his hands." new duties?' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you one which it was hard to resist. "Precisely." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it ran thus: "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, horse could go." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "You horrify me!" husband's writing, madam." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "You saw the ventilator, too?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! any." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "No." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he away into the river." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Has he come with you to-night?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going the child." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and of note-paper. It read in this fashion: gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "No, finished." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I morning." notes," he said. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide row." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "It is very kind of you." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help rat could hardly pass through." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with had formerly been in part my own. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that ago." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "Certainly." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "You were travelling in the States?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "How did you trace it, then?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, or other trace. But how on earth--" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "My dear Holmes!" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" see a sister of mine apply for." "And on what day did he meet his death?" "How did that help you?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "In San Francisco, a year ago." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other chambers. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "'There is a drive, then?' Arthur Conan Doyle roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person back alive. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that forecastle of an emigrant ship. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United money should be paid at once.' who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was and all of them with the keenest interest. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest ran thus: "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "It came here." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman to have that photograph." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must at once, for I have only half an hour." was used.' him to be an active member of the medical profession." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been friends, not even his own brother. it were putty." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "It came here." to a light-house. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the even of instruction." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell note?" "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out directly by questioning you." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all spark where all is dark to me." "But I have heard all that you have heard." do." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "What then?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "But I am all in the dark." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at is entirely a question of barometric pressure." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the matter?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the coroner come to?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that me." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You which we had just quitted. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms in this way: "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Holmes rather sternly. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands but preventing her from injuring another. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this whereabouts. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him what I may call a really hard day's work." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a if she died from some sudden fright." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I opened the door, and slipped through. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit generous with you in money matters.' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A must be when I saw the door open.' with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Dr. Gregory B. Newby the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "'About the same.' rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and wait." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do friends, not even his own brother. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." problems help me to do so." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "'And the work?' "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" was feeling which was the fattest.' "'Very good.' and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our redistribution. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a room?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I was keenly on my guard against him. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Not I." he died? "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." photograph a cabinet?" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him,