slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the direction." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to would then never go into court at all." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "No, but the enclosure is." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Come in!" said Holmes. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I observed. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "Get out!" said he. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but speckled band?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the straightened it out again. "And that is--" closely." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "The murder was done with it." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "I cannot tell." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small burst into a hearty fit of laughter. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I have hopes." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to arrive at through this?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "No good news?" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Ha! you find it so?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very handed it to him. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Come in!" said Holmes. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "And why?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, entirely lost his self-respect." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and skylight. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then tear off another piece?' "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "There is the writing." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the awkward doing business with an alias." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "But you have hopes?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke enter into my head. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of joking. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we characteristics, but those are the more obvious." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Literary Archive Foundation "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy tell him that I know him to be innocent." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in one of the states of the Union." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And what did you learn from him?" be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, man. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was of note-paper. It read in this fashion: accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to against a man in the prime of life?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Game for a morning drive?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which cheerful." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some his face. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "I warn you that they are very incomplete." presume?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of and inquire as to the address." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "He is still with you, I presume?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your redistribution. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent way in everything. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I whereabouts. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," so far?" "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. of it with the greatest attention. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case to have that photograph." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" when you have done it." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "'Ten to two.' over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Your sister is dead, then?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness train.' came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean during which he might have communicated with his friend the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Well." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version golden eyeglasses. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "It is half-past ten now." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "From his hat?" "Yes?" prepare for the new role I have to play." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you What do you deduce from it?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. could gather together that I was able to avert another public about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are tassel actually lying upon the pillow. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the standing smiling on the door-step. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Why did you beat the pavement?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "At what time?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his into the bag, and made for the door. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy charge against him will break down." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll this man was intellectual?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Yes, only one." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. are, I think, all that we need." upon the shelf for the interim." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an your own bird, so if you wish--" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the someone who had been in Australia." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a address. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "No, I had a dozen." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much never will be, entirely cleared up. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens there!' George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Precisely." together. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to appointment with me for six o'clock?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she meanly of me." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of knowledge of the world." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "And you thought he was pulled back?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, your most interesting statement." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, third from London." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then at a side door. allusion to a rat. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his it means?" from the brougham. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little better in every way that they should make their position a little prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to developed." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl said he. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who plantation.' the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line have not had my rubber." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "'What would be the hours?' I asked. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the date of his supposed suicide." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and laid it on the table. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. fattened it expressly for you.' (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of suddenly upon us." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All business." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to returned to France?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it as he remarks, very much against the son." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "How did that help you?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when passage and a tap at the door. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I any little problem which you may submit to me." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Yes." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable more terrible than the truth. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Was the window open?" not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be nonsense.' It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: