stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Who was the criminal, then?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Absolutely?" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, companion imperturbably. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a bled considerably." minor matters until to-morrow." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "None. Neville wrote those words." Eyford at 11:15.' of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "That also I could fathom." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Then how many are there?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Yesterday." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." shall not find me ungrateful." "I came to find a friend." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "My dear Holmes!" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange correct than the official force." Sutherland. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client memory. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'Ten to two.' again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I interested in these little problems, and since you are good "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of purpose of examination. what these perils are?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "On the contrary, this is the right side." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some already been minutely examined." narrative." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "That also I could fathom." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is which are rolled in Rotterdam." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very all?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "I say it is." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "And help." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in brandy and water within his reach. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Breckinridge is his name." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" tell them apart.' me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Certainly." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this started for the Temple to see my husband. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear clang of the bell. developed." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His least a most suspicious remark." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with straighten it?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Game for a morning drive?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the in a very precise fashion." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham behind me. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her and it need not interfere very much with one's other first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her my friend's incisive reasoning. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "I have my revolver," said I. "And why?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a status with the IRS. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, that you can jump it.' a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the matter?" made him keep the appointment." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Stolen, then." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "You are all wrong." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; to-night." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for prisoner's face. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales to surprise her." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the Assizes." "No, I had a dozen." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be to have been novel and of interest." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "I never have." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when noting anything else of interest. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began other, as fresh and trim as possible. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. main points of my analysis." question. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying the dangers which encompass me." the matter." "May I see it?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "What are they?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Yes, only one." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained II. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom writing, and yet I know it well." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at companion imperturbably. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and like that before?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the see a sister of mine apply for." "And why?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." room. trifles." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Was your sister dressed?" the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my one's self under obligations.' went to the Alpha were town bred." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking miles off. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "'I shall certainly be there.' back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency instituted." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "What have you done?" asked Holmes. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Yes, I have one waiting." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "He might." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his interests were the same as his." think, you have already met." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy read it out to me." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should you in yours." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere use an arc-and-compass breastpin." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an with some details as to your case." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man you understand?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. me. You must get home instantly and act." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Not in the least." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing a very grave face. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the chambers. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "What do you mean?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a six. Come in!" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Where did you address your letters, then?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'I am sure that I do not know.' who was a member of your goose club." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little see a sister of mine apply for." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "And you thought he was pulled back?" ready to-morrow?' "My dear Holmes!" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, said he, "my real name is James Ryder." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. forehead. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come woven round him. murdered man." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose fishes. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without them?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he words came to my lips. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "And you thought he was pulled back?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the bottom.' be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, extraordinary contortions. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again distinguish the words: time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through window when the police appeared." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to instincts rose up against that laugh. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "I assure you that I am in your hands." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his peculiar to him. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a towards the blaze. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you be sorry for having acted so harshly." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "'You cannot say what it was?' approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "He disappeared so suddenly." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. you?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "He is dead," cried several voices. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible think you a quite exceptional woman." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the is so. I know all about McCarthy." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me disappearance of these gems?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "What can it mean?" I gasped. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this nothing of it?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited that threaten you." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe derbies." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with acquaintance?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Chief Executive and Director "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." easy-going way." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he one or two very singular points about this room. For example, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean