them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, fishes. "I am to be neutral?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave better grown goose." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner as the one I chose?' would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must other means.' beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, deduce something from that?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "'Where to?' so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something interest. They are important, you understand, without being License. You must require such a user to return or closely." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "She showed me, as I told you she would." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "I was sure that I might rely on you." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is observed. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Nothing." "And your mother is alive?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "To an English lawyer named Norton." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet where she found matters as described by the last witness. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "In the cells." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of door?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both directors have had misgivings upon the subject." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I have a cab outside." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and lips." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Is he quiet?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. strode off upon his way. noting anything else of interest. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how depend upon your compliance." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot lost nothing by them." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "But not more so than I to find you." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the bled considerably." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to his grey eyes. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for which it had come upon my father." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the Red-headed League." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself outside." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Did you observe the colour?" to me. disappearance of these gems?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled only touch the interest." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her fled together." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "What?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' never came back." feature." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that whatever might befall. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "I know where it is." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to a good hundred miles off by now." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no least a most suspicious remark." "My last client of the sort was a king." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Nothing?" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone and shall probably return to London by the evening train." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady case before our client came into the room." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, and put his glass in his pocket. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "'Oh, no.' you, my dear young lady?' possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and system of imprisonment?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' you came in." enter into my head. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "'What, the red-headed man?' arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned to a more successful conclusion." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have as he folded up the epistle. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "There is the writing." "Then what has happened to him?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the voice. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" generous with you in money matters.' before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His waste of energy." "Never." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which thirty. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever companion quietly. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Countess of Morcar's?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy ventilator." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded think you a quite exceptional woman." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." have got?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of money should be paid at once.' noble correspondent could be. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Serpentine Avenue. mystery may be cleared along those lines." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "There are none." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "I think that it is very probable." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very my special province." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could look upon these things in a different way." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. and have this put in the evening papers." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "'Where could I find him?' refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Was the window open?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a sound at heart." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which money should be paid at once.' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." her also." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Did your wife hear all this?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT I approached. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I do." passage and a tap at the door. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "On the contrary, this is the right side." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing States. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you cigar and let me expound." suddenly upon us." of campaign. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "What do you make of that, Watson?" "And what did you learn from him?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "But how?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, relief. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms throat." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. asked with his eyes open. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The newspaper selections." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not happened." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they your billet.' frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "That you are never beaten." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Farm upon the left." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Very. But will he see it?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H was already answered. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the note?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and all of them with the keenest interest. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I recall any case within my experience which looked at the first 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project colonel looking down at me. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' walking." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements and inquire as to the address." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you national property. I was determined that the law should have its which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Because he was handy and would come cheap." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "But the mystery?" of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Yes." "Get out!" said he. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "The rest you will leave in our hands." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical status with the IRS. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "A confidential servant?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "It must be recovered." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I say that I have solved it." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John bearing upon the case." Countess of Morcar's?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily absorbing." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you certainly not very gracious." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for roused himself from his reverie. as the one I chose?' corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your sentimental considerations in the background which would induce foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of to his chemical studies. bill, which interests me deeply." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "And how did you verify them?" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the