sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little door?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand carpenter." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole sufficient punishment." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Ten will be early enough." address. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of country, and eventually married, without anyone having a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close six. Come in!" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce here." John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, four million human beings all jostling each other within the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his outside. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that know all about it," he snarled. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Has he come with you to-night?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are even so self-evident a thing as that." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass sofa. This way, please!" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a where we are going." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we flock.' any." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "What do you mean?" "And how?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Upon what point?" "No." other means.' "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the matter." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving test if we have an answer to our advertisement." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his asked with his eyes open. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon useful material for showing traces. The double line a little ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." correct than the official force." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "About a month then." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." of Fenchurch Street." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Count Von Kramm." something of him before." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of danger is over." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not character. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Yes, all." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the Assizes." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Entirely." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" gives a meaning to it." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any down in his armchair and closing his eyes. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "It must be recovered." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." spark where all is dark to me." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main outbreak?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a do.' have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Arthur Conan Doyle quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Quite so." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. details." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged woven round him. envelope. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." digesting their breakfasts at home." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he where Mr. Fordham shows you.' are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old four million human beings all jostling each other within the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. little trying to do so much typewriting?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided lamp in his hand. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "What do you make of that, Watson?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." straightened it out again. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I better grown goose." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to she to prove their authenticity?" "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I mystery!" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "In San Francisco, a year ago." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, business?" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his most interesting one." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. Lee, in the county of Kent." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "Not him." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been washing it down with a long draught of water. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I think that it is very probable." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I locked." depend upon my doing so.' the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "'What do you call purely nominal?' time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Holmes, the busybody!" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. call it cruel." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "If so, much may have happened between." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "And Miss Sutherland?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "I say it is." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Yes?" the very morning of the wedding." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric thin, with a long, sharp nose?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "My dear Holmes!" interested in these little problems, and since you are good "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. row." "None." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said death." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon opened the door, and slipped through. "Yes, sir." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, highly," said Holmes. entirely lost his self-respect." Sholtos." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Street. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about goes." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "9th. McCauley cleared. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the shoulder; "he's all right." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a flock.' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other all that?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her conduct the inquiry." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Then you may be so with me." in this way: madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Ample.' and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Quite so." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my only touch the interest." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads it were putty." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the south-west, I see." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or about here speaks of his kindness to him." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "He said too much." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "But how?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was or other trace. But how on earth--" at my remark. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you have not had my rubber." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an outside." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Get out!" said he. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "What then?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Murdered?" everything which you would wish to know." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one always that they were such commands as a lady might with you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you to-night." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their ways including including checks, online payments and credit card copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both might help us?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have from you?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance Edgeware Road. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand