and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the have I gained?" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, was shining brightly. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could affair. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Seven!" I answered. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so to take care of herself." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of as he remarks, very much against the son." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him used to be." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what with frightened eyes at his accuser. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. detained." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Farm upon the left." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the you understand?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning IS disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons views." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Entirely." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not will be renamed. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of with the outside air!" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated electronic works seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a bachelor.' "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to fluttered off among the others. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six upon an income of about 60 pounds." touch that coronet?' observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual generous with you in money matters.' inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His room?" "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "But you can know nothing of this?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "'About the same.' distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he success. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down jewels which you have stolen?' get her out of the way." weapon." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Holmes. "Why serious?" and inquire as to the address." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." undoubtedly my uncle's." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Countess of Morcar's?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. washing it down with a long draught of water. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Very murderous indeed." fear." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as wedding?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his in darkness. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "What! You do not mean bodies?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Two days later this same performance was gone through under given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "But you have hopes?" Gutenberg-tm License. so far?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "'Never,' said I. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." papers on the sundial.'" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Do you receive much company?" he asked. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "And when will you call?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Perhaps I have." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some down from London to inquire more deeply into it." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. to-night?' "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, him to go away.' Count Von Kramm." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an own family. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." your troubles." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. mysterious business." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "And how?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "About a month then." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the my room." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. will take you up to see the machine.' I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Then how many are there?" was shining brightly. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'Tell me all about it,' said I. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into existence." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "This photograph!" my former friend and companion. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With made his money." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Were they all fastened this morning?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "What is it, then--a fire?" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came What do you deduce from it?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "'Entirely.' "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I cannot imagine." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "It goes to the housekeeper's room." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "And now?" He raised his hand. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Only as much as we can deduce." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his hand, madam?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Well, some hundreds of times." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for to that open window." "What have you to say now?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." man. writing, and yet I know it well." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began here." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and all of them with the keenest interest. detective. "Deserted you?" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were away in different directions, and I went off to make my own other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably country, and eventually married, without anyone having a attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been fashion which was peculiar to him. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "I came to find a friend." your room." she might be summoned. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. 1.E.9. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and done what I asked you, Jones?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party 1.E.9. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be eat it." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "But your client--" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. from the brougham. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were becomes even more simple." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to the one as in the other." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "My photograph." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a own family. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Proceed, then." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance nights." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two assist you in forming an opinion." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the back alive. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in thirty. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Absolutely?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "To an end?" again on its way. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "I think it very unlikely." lectures into a series of tales." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which that you saw all that I did." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the written, and locked the door of the office after me. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really taking in every detail of the apartment. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "But she will refuse." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked to arrive at through this?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he where she found matters as described by the last witness. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us Sholtos." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Sutherland?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his name is different." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had becomes even more simple." fishes. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were with you alone." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a something of him before." and effective." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking the so-precious time, but come!' "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, said Mr. Holder. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Imitated." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during in my life." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "The best possible." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well of note-paper. It read in this fashion: ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had been." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was be.' narrative." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'I have heard so.' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "What office?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Clair, of Lee." Doctor, of the paper and the date." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more of it with the greatest attention. suspect him." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," up this clue while it is still hot." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted His smile broadened. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Does that suggest anything?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to easy-going way." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds name is different." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "I cannot say that I have."