"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the house with me." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure never came back." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Your French gold?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." companion imperturbably. returned to France?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I about. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "No." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which keep the flames under. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Of Friday, June 19th." tell them apart.' vanished into the darkness. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "One horse?" interjected Holmes. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See allusion to a rat. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the footfalls from the street. hand, madam?" however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "No, I had a dozen." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "That is easily got." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off desk. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "My stepfather's business papers." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right his eyes and forehead. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and looked back. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." know all about it," he snarled. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has never came back." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. unclasping of his long thin hands. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but it." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious wall." "That was it, sir." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "And what then?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'I am sure that I do not know.' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he returned to France?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Only as much as we can deduce." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the dangers which encompass me." asked with his eyes open. asked with his eyes open. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know of the efforts of the United States government and of the better why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the seven miles from Eyford Station.' Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be I shall continue with my miserable story. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not again on its way. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who from you?" this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "It goes to the housekeeper's room." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I cannot imagine." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed ways including including checks, online payments and credit card course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, chamber." I am not easy in my mind about them." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather in his hands." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As pity, because in other respects you would really have done very than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and province." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air putting in the horse. mystery may be cleared along those lines." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have conclusions. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "But you can know nothing of this?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning wedding?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and again before evening." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman whether it answered to the description of any of their traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She unprecedented a position." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project not, dad?" she asked. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and may never be exposed to such a temptation." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood to that open window." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "On Monday." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I shall most certainly do so." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with very old mansion. to you." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "You have the photograph?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." tapping his fingers upon the table. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "But how?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Why serious?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. with her." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and the whole place is in a blaze." "What are they?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At have I gained?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. from the brougham. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I should like to see him very much." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "'How far from the body?' would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, appointment with me for six o'clock?" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words problems help me to do so." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age some mystery and the punishment of some crime." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure and effective." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "I am all attention, madam." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "'Oh, no.' came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Where did you address your letters, then?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was closely." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must me have 200 pounds?' his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some of fine shops and stately business premises that they really given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, have one." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. Henry Baker is a member." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a too. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would them, and came down just as you departed. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of it. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "'I am sure that I do not know.' see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to returned to France?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was call it cruel." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Precisely so. But how--" learned something! Where are the gems?" him!" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "By all means." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting weigh very heavily upon my conscience." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Will you go?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a mystery may be cleared along those lines." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign late!' in your London, you will know that the office of the company is should be so warm over such a trifle." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "How on earth--" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San felt the room to be a little close.' ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his whereabouts. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a him, that man would not have given me such complete information smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "What! a murderous attack?" "I will do it." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman dear old homesteads?" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with during the last few years, and there are many noble families to A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the the salesman. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's used to be." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in weary and pale-looking. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of them has the shutters up.' handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "But what is it you wish?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, has little to do with my story." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this place no limit on the sum I may draw." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I make me his representative both with the servants and with the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I answered that I had not. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Leave Paddington by the 11:15." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "My dear Holmes!" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'And the work?' by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I came to find a friend." name is different." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "That is also quite modern," said the lady. such attractions and accomplishments?' "And now?" I asked. delighted to hear it," he said. written, and locked the door of the office after me. business came to an end." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney disappearance of the bride.'" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my exactly what you advise." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "No." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "That is not always so easy." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he to-night?' manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at mysterious end."