there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Why did you pick him?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "'Where could I find him?' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know that I am arrested." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from ceremony." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "What of the rat, then?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, other lovers by making love himself." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "I am in hopes that she does." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many late." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His made him keep the appointment." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very presume?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." the station." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "What can it mean?" I gasped. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just introspective fashion. meant." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the been shamefully used." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the a room. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the your sleep?' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "She showed me, as I told you she would." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been past. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "No, I think that I'll take it." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, a monotonous occupation." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered if she died from some sudden fright." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the interests were the same as his." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and had a long day." "Yes, the wine-cellar." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "She walked into the breakfast-room." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. of it with the greatest attention. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in you give your casting vote to?" main points of my analysis." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting lectures into a series of tales." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning good-night and bustled off upon her way. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "That's no good." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to your billet.' open." fire. You quite follow me?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "I have hopes." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. might help us?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "An accident, I presume?" 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Well." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "'Certainly not. But why?' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the meanly of me." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "And why in hopes?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "But of what society?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "The King of Scandinavia." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second tightly behind him. help us in this matter." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the very morning of the wedding." such person." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest the address that was given us in the advertisement. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be it." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Certainly." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were said he. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and wife's character?" "I am in hopes that she does." interests were the same as his." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a wall." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "This photograph!" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one appeal." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier out." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no unprecedented a position." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. His smile broadened. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what lips." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. fatally injured? effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the like that before?" "What will you say?" "I cannot imagine." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder legal crime." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not several quiet little villages up there." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I have my revolver," said I. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "What of the rat, then?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make if only as a check to my own memory." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'Entirely.' "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who a little more before I quite committed myself. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "You think that he is dead?" at my own good fortune. fled together." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able never will be, entirely cleared up. remarked. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly absorbing." secret." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "To an English lawyer named Norton." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, strong reason behind." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through all-comprehensive glances. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right sparkled upon his finger. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his arrested. You then--" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "And that is--" visitors." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "In heaven's name, what for?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how III. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our with some details as to your case." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again it right.' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, I took the paper from him and read as follows: aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "That is also quite modern," said the lady. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow could go. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Never." "Ten will be early enough." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "No sign of it?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Thank you. And your address?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his highroad, where all traces were lost. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "It is possible." horse could go." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Where does the thing come from?' which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." through." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Two days later this same performance was gone through under to-night?" I asked. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern you." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "So I have heard." go from here to the Strand." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought strong reason behind." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this weighed down with some great anxiety. "You have the photograph?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "This concluded the examination of the witness." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody she slowly sank and died without having recovered her shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "And Irene Adler?" client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the to-morrow." second window is the one that I jumped from." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my plantation.' occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to occurred." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, chair. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go emerged. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms soul! here is her carriage at the door." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "No, I had a dozen." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Where does the thing come from?' "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry strode off upon his way. wedding?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "'You cannot say what it was?' "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I of this gang." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the coronet in his hand?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get grasp, he hurried from the room. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was know all about it," he snarled. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'Oh, no.' method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you it? Did I buy the geese off you?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a address. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Has he come with you to-night?" will not take me long to tell. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "It looks newer than the other things?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'Then let me do so?' "Pray let us have it, for all that." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" daring than any effort of the imagination." second window is the one that I jumped from." "Yes, the wine-cellar." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this