cigars in their mouths. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "I am all attention, madam." "It is no ordinary one." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new were wasted." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into matter over." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" sneer upon his pale face. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Yes, that is the Crown." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to you understand?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of words came to my lips. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and bearing upon the case." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your of Fenchurch Street." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the will be renamed. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this to go into your room and bar your shutters?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is here." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet as yours." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special right! Sit down and let us talk it over." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "That was it, sir." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "You will not go there first?" following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all 11:15.' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful them?" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, room had already been engaged for us. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, have established a very serious case against the son of the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my be. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was brain must have something in it." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to asked with his eyes open. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third yet." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest I shall continue with my miserable story. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "'What then?' I asked. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, trifles." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little October 9, 1890. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "What I expected to see." of Fenchurch Street." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, such attractions and accomplishments?' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea of a light. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "She told me to ask you." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Pool. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "I say that I have solved it." with the outside air!" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of careless servant girl?" her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. events than those which have happened in my own family." until night should bring an explanation. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the guilty one." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of passage and a tap at the door. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my there was no need for father to know." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty cheerful." never to learn it at all." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole hereditary King of Bohemia." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event chance." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and said he. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Perhaps we may make them less so." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when became a certainty. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which it." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a three of the beryls in it, was missing. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this these bleak autumnal evenings." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that eat it." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "But what will you do?" "That is not always so easy." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when and wait." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two kindly on the shoulder. "'Ample.' "How did that help you?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, and the church but not where the lady lived." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of three of the beryls in it, was missing. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not out of this horrible affair." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "A greater distance to travel." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through have an American origin." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can do you make of it all?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. your sleep?' for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." writer." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely business at Coburg Square is serious." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was woman who has had her own way to make in the world. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and existence." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared here and I will read it to you: studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "It is possible." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Quite so. She has her freedom." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Yes, it would be as well." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined go back?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found is," said he presently: "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "But to whom?" walking." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "But how will you look?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was Henry Baker is a member." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" empty. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "To the police?" made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "I shall most certainly do so." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I am about to be married." what these perils are?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I has little to do with my story." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the done what I asked you, Jones?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "And from a noble client?" much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had certainly do as you advise." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Pray do so." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand of the efforts of the United States government and of the better of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. helping a boy to put up the shutters. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "What do you mean?" we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep daring than any effort of the imagination." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would nights." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of to me. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I speckled band?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the house with me." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and looked back. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the married her." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round interests were the same as his." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked my little problems." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local in the hope of finding them." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" closing the door. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, matter over." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Then how many are there?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is writers could invent nothing more crude." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest murdered man." hereditary King of Bohemia." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, may never be exposed to such a temptation." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: presented which may be striking and bizarre without being it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "And what then?" "Certainly." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told overpowering excitement and concern. what these perils are?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "'Yes.' and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the hopeless attempt at recovering them." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached to surprise her." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "But what will you do?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were over with notes and figures. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."