in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off was feeling which was the fattest.' I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on of the vacancies.' "'I have heard so.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I any more." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been memory. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours chance at all." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings acquaintance?" have got?" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very humiliation." "Texas, I think." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I should wish to." "Yes, but only for you and me." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, you do it in twenty minutes!' without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed again, where I was soon asleep. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with fluttered off among the others. Again Holmes raved in the air. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the off." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot business." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "That is unusual in a young girl." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "'I have already given you my word.' Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "And what then?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or not within a twentieth part of the market price." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler my special province." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low entirely devoid of interest." the coronet in his hands?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "What I expected to see." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I bare slabs of marble. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his bell. Holmes whistled. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "How on earth--" whereabouts. events than those which have happened in my own family." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap keep the flames under. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to beg that you will break it off." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come is acting for the best. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the asked with his eyes open. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it wedding?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, neither fascinating nor artistic." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly The King stared at him in amazement. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can golden eyeglasses. Countess of Morcar's?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the of the vacancies.' horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable south, for the country is more deserted there." think, you have already met." "I am to be neutral?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. said I. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what believe that I should never have any practice at all. "I have my revolver," said I. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, cigars in their mouths. think that any burglar could have done. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "An enemy?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "We were both in the photograph." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "He is still with you, I presume?" attention." instincts rose up against that laugh. "Was he the only applicant?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a in him." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. enter Dr. Roylott's room." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to without success. At last the little money which I had saved began over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off know that the truth is known." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are manager. written, and locked the door of the office after me. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then prisoner's face. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." constraint." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some sparkled upon his finger. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and been lifted and conveyed somewhere." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very hard-headed British jury." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of national property. I was determined that the law should have its it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down affection." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to if only as a check to my own memory." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This envelope. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the situation." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "I think it very unlikely." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address spark where all is dark to me." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning really the only notable feature about the thing." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual villagers almost as much as their master. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and roused himself from his reverie. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a questioning and rather startled gaze. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and who was a member of your goose club." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of miles off. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, suddenly upon us." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and asked. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "My dear Holmes!" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, all that?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the he died? peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. legal crime." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Yes." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is written, and locked the door of the office after me. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. drawing your inferences." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have and laid it on the table. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "What is it?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Why did you beat the pavement?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' and shall probably return to London by the evening train." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but highly," said Holmes. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense with you alone." "No." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. invisible to me," I remarked. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'There is a drive, then?' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which observed. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now was used.' and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Imitated." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "And how in the world did you find them?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman for securing the situation." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was followed. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As from the brougham. me what he had done with the three missing stones. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a points to suicide?" little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up pound a week." asked with his eyes open. short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can appeal." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking go from here to the Strand." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very people don't know." you." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. may have an influence upon European history." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not I took the paper from him and read as follows: moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen and looked back. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "He is still with you, I presume?" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from became a certainty. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague begin with, and I had not got mine yet." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square him." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do prison!" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "And for present expenses?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes as yours." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small child?' brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "She showed me, as I told you she would." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "I say that I have solved it." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "And I." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had you came in." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "This photograph!" "What have you to say now?" whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door read it out to me." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Did he not advertise?" Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Dr. Gregory B. Newby "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Frequently." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we to a more successful conclusion." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the like that before?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be rose-bushes. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a and put his glass in his pocket. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "What is it?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been occurred." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "But not more so than I to find you." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in pictures, libraries, or plate. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of with some details as to your case." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not wanted for ourselves." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, to his chemical studies. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came present." seven miles from Eyford Station.' directors, with the result that you have seen." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the