came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "And how?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of fluttered off among the others. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and Eyford." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Not him." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? me. south, for the country is more deserted there." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." what these perils are?" "'Yes, sir.' opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong goes." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "When did it break out?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one instincts rose up against that laugh. "Certainly." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "What then?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind better in every way that they should make their position a little finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Then how many are there?" "My dear Holmes!" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "That is unusual in a young girl." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has writer." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and crime." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the been able to understand it, in a very few words. me." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "The King of Scandinavia." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening in the dead of the night?' "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I during that time.' "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his chemical work which was so dear to him. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Here?" yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father lids now and glanced across at his visitor. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. against a man in the prime of life?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." to take care of herself." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do enter into my head. suspect him." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It envelope. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his developed." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the loss of it. ourselves in the office." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with go from here to the Strand." affection." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have started for the Temple to see my husband. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than like that before?" "It is very kind of you." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at troubles have been weighing upon his mind. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, sake, don't!" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "'Ample.' "And now?" I asked. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'How far from the body?' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "In heaven's name, what for?" woven round him. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." the salesman. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew stammered. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this point our research must commence, and we will begin it by them?" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the my room." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must vague figure huddled up in the darkness. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction on in his house." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to gone. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no are, I think, all that we need." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very burst out into a roar of laughter. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the second." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "No, I had a dozen." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "About a month then." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the me upon any point which I do not make clear." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I miles off. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Entirely." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now chance at all." back into the street. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "But he might be a bachelor." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "What do you make of that, Watson?" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in it." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in new duties?' then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Miss Holder?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he too. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a God! What an exposure! What can I do?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have affair. "Come in!" said he. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened at once, for I have only half an hour." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "But the mystery?" grasp, he hurried from the room. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up and I shall be with you presently." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "He might." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "You did not overhear what they said?" "Then, how do you know?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "She told me to ask you." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I am in hopes that she does." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would everything which you would wish to know." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From habit of advancing money.' office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that fish-monger and a tide-waiter." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a You want to know what became of those geese?" you." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; entirely lost his self-respect." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "I beg pardon." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It was." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached empty. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you clanging. "In heaven's name, what for?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "'Certainly,' I answered. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some held up the lantern and gazed about him. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Deserted you?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "It is very kind of you." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, point in the dark hollow of his hand. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "No." "Breckinridge is his name." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with to Leatherhead. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through it were putty." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Yes." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Precisely." "'Quite sure, dad.' introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, to miss it." in darkness. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. this unhappy family?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "In San Francisco, a year ago." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, door?" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I nothing of it?" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "I have a cab outside." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in of the vacancies.' and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Yes, that is the Crown." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have sound at heart." anything to do with the matter?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "No. What a strange idea!" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a stalked out of the room. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I married her." discontent upon his features. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple excitement. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and now. It seems that there had been some informality about their bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found electronic works emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' October 9, 1890. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or His smile broadened. "BALLARAT." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in know what is wrong with it.' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, the very morning of the wedding." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he about here speaks of his kindness to him." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "In what way?" asked Holmes. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly considering the formidable letters which were received by himself him!" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. him to be an active member of the medical profession." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "He said that you could solve anything." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Well, but China?" If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Mary, has deserted me." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the