in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out round with crates and massive boxes. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "This photograph!" have an American origin." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a roused himself from his reverie. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the south-west, I see." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, night.' said he. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking furiously. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by residence of the great financier. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and that he would see to anything that turned up. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, said he. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way had a long day." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'I am sure that I do not know.' which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Dr. Gregory B. Newby writing, and yet I know it well." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. notes," he said. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, vanished into the darkness. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "And the murderer?" "'And the work?' dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing whereabouts. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were past. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could business came to an end." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City presume?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out house for five minutes.' only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable helping a boy to put up the shutters. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too been with you?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me ill-usage at the hands of fortune. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Then I can wait in the next room." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Come in!" said Holmes. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask was a lad." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel experiences." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at help us in this matter." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "You will not go there first?" "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet to have been novel and of interest." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the matter?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'I have heard so.' on in his house." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." key of the affair now." friend's singular character. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "9th. McCauley cleared. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "I do." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much child?' must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Certainly." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are name is different." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' six. Come in!" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is least a most suspicious remark." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. evidence," I remarked. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been to some other building. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "It is a murder, then?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "I say it is." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "'Not at all. I only doubt--' spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second of them has the shutters up.' his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the about here speaks of his kindness to him." a suggestive one." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to imbecility!" he cried. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "What then?" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking said he, "my real name is James Ryder." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. I think that I could be of assistance to you." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an Count Von Kramm." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a cause to be." chair. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had your troubles." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got had this final quarrel? his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all to-night's adventure." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. served to weaken the effect. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "You have but to name it." weighed down with some great anxiety. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Yes. He waved his hands." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of returning from some small jollification and was making his way snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "But how could you guess what the motive was?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich ways including including checks, online payments and credit card and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it lost his Christmas dinner." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Mrs. Toller serenely. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "A client, then?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the wife's character?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by to you." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "But how?" to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I problems help me to do so." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "On your arm?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very my former friend and companion. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Murdered?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "A call for help, you thought?" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up way in." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "An accident, I presume?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and mystery." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "The doctor?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until away into the river." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a to some other building. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw article?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Because he was handy and would come cheap." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see miles off. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "But I have heard all that you have heard." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home them present such singular features as the strange train of "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the bed, and you in that chair." brain must have something in it." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind remarked. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in of note-paper. It read in this fashion: apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, have one." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I brought there to personate someone, and the real person is him to be an active member of the medical profession." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was clanging. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "None." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, even so self-evident a thing as that." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I national property. I was determined that the law should have its At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "But how?" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom all?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three my special province." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you James Windibank. Voilà tout!" room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining were unconscious?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Where, indeed?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There eat it." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found strength of mind to control. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a matter." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "That is also quite modern," said the lady. himself to hunt down. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "That is unusual in a young girl." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow heavily into it. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy you?' "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my recover the gem." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the room while you explain this matter?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Why did you pick him?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "I see many objections to any such theory." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as which it had come upon my father." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "It certainly sounds feasible." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my it? Did I buy the geese off you?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily morning." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the mysterious business." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a you." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and salesman. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we name is different." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" long narrative. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall persecution?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Never." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at might have a private word with us. brain must have something in it." "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I fear not." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had gigantic client. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I tension within him. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were