correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of congratulate you again." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Come in!" said he. trifles." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Miss Holder?" never came back." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "You have a clue?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in footfalls from the street. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate once more for Briony Lodge. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently nice household for a young lady." "And who is her maid?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and prosperity to your house. Good-night." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his cheerful." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop and have this put in the evening papers." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, burst out into a roar of laughter. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I go back?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "But how?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see easy-going way." "So I am. Very much so." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "You will not go there first?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Yes." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. some city in a dream. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be asked. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Was he the only applicant?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching out of this horrible affair." "Yes, only one." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the trifles." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, think that any burglar could have done. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Then I do not see the point." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his of fine shops and stately business premises that they really direction." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Yes." "Not in a good cause." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the I approached. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was attention." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "'There is a drive, then?' imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "The knees of his trousers." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "I cannot imagine." straighten it?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I gentleman's clothes. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "No." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else down. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think forehead. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "It is possible." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. woman." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they she slowly sank and died without having recovered her rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would I approached. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before at home. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as straighten it?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Yes." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I to-morrow." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons husband's writing, madam." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Precisely." roused himself from his reverie. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Stoke Moran." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That some place of shelter and let the county police know what has fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that approach us with offers to donate. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Where to?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "None." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "My photograph." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss I took the paper from him and read as follows: papers on the sundial.'" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "He said too much." License. You must require such a user to return or quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." indeed happy." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'How far from the body?' is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood fact, we may call it conclusive." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. brandy and water within his reach. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all is entirely a question of barometric pressure." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the standing smiling on the door-step. "'Very good.' call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more ways of our fellow-men." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A room. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell again on its way. "Thank you. Pray proceed." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice shoulder; "he's all right." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To photograph?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to tell him that I know him to be innocent." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get your Highness to the police-station?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know to-night?' Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the in a very precise fashion." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Oh, fresh and glossy." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to in one or two places in England?' "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have tell him that I know him to be innocent." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is the room while you explain this matter?" Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. fluttered off among the others. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own security.' insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that followed. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my delirious. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Will you go?" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt spare." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Did your wife hear all this?" "Then you may be so with me." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "On your arm?" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Well?" the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of yourselves in at night?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and was shining brightly. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Here?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She public press." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he this as likely?" would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, to you." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "'How far from the body?' "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that his fortune, and I went back to pa. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an trying to your nerves." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "But of what society?" young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." the coronet at all injured?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal all?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we his face which made him a very different person to the round, look dissatisfied." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Come in!" said he. if she died from some sudden fright." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about tassel actually lying upon the pillow. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when there when the Rucastles went away." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "But we can't all be." "You horrify me." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "By all means." coat-tails." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "In heaven's name, what for?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "But what will you do?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Was the window open?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I was keenly on my guard against him. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. yourselves in at night?" "But how will you look?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I wall." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "I say it is." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" upon a handsome competence. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "My private note-paper." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was other means.' no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down question. chill to my heart. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those dead, shall be safe with us." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and six. Come in!" sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers points in connection with it which never have been, and probably knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of and I shall be with you presently." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one some water from a caraffe. you for a few hours?" Where does the thing come from?' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." ceremony." your bag." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged light and attacked it." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." pound a week." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest infinite languor in his face. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Then, as to money?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "My last client of the sort was a king." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional brain must have something in it." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." brain must have something in it." cheerful."