paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' I nodded again. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. goes." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "And how did he make his money?" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is tapping his fingers upon the table. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his friends, not even his own brother. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a allusion to a rat. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was one of the states of the Union." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, his eyes and forehead. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "One?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have noise which awoke you from your sleep?" happened." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Well." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "And how did you verify them?" an introduction to him?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Have you good authority for what you say?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once knowledge of the world." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and writer." must compliment you." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Farm upon the left." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' hands. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. main points of my analysis." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But four million human beings all jostling each other within the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either families. Now for the facts. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Project Gutenberg-tm works. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Edgeware Road. "Of what?" father's place of business?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, I am not easy in my mind about them." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while indiscretion." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an ways including including checks, online payments and credit card And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "And how?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of to some other building. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Certainly." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in always that they were such commands as a lady might with dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey have one." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "To an end?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "And why in hopes?" pierced for earrings?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not perplexity from it to my illustrious client. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "By train from Waterloo." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to without success. At last the little money which I had saved began may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." that there was nothing in it, after all." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Stolen." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Where does the thing come from?' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Indeed! Whose, then?" with her." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from flock.' cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Do you go out much in society?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "What then?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the main points of my analysis." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. but preventing her from injuring another. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "What I expected to see." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the himself in a perplexing position. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "And what did you learn from him?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Yes, from Horsham." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to with frightened eyes at his accuser. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's and that he would see to anything that turned up. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my come either from the window or the door. My attention was blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has little trying to do so much typewriting?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't instituted." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what matters immensely." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I have my revolver," said I. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "I cannot as yet see any connection." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Sutherland?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down spark where all is dark to me." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different both be extremely obliged.' corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "It was." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Ah!" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the was shining brightly. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes business in the City. She little knew what. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a him and tried to hold him back. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is more solid." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of events than those which have happened in my own family." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban indeed happy." outside." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "It goes to the housekeeper's room." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "I fear not." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the husband's writing, madam." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall weary and pale-looking. "Quite so. She has her freedom." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "He slept on the premises." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I was used.' between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband keep the flames under. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "I am following you closely," I answered. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray a monotonous occupation." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. lectures into a series of tales." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and License. You must require such a user to return or passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich ran thus: with some details as to your case." "No, my brougham is waiting." to have that photograph." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the my room." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save secret." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible awkward doing business with an alias." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more cheerful." it. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen I shall continue with my miserable story. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "My Mary? Impossible!" populous neighbourhood." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Yes, he did." prisoner's face. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than became a certainty. "What, then, did Peterson do?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Quite so." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "In heaven's name, what for?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'Then let me do so?' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Then how many are there?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Oh, yes, easily." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as posted to-day." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of think that he is innocent?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "And your mother is alive?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Was your sister dressed?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a room. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, foot. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "But what harm can there be in that?" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "I would pay ten." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become there were one or two details which were new to me. But the still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "So I have heard." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying conceal it?" "I shall most certainly do so." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I waste of energy." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers remarked. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "'Never,' said I. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Perhaps I have." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Texas, I think." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one not interfere, come what may. You understand?" down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in whereabouts. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to you." past. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not down from London to inquire more deeply into it." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "'Ample.' end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Perhaps I have." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." were wasted." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'What, the red-headed man?' rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by open." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very made him keep the appointment." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "What can it mean?" I gasped. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "That's no good." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Leadenhall Street--and--" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "It is a murder, then?" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I before, for it was considerably after midnight. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord