"My photograph." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by John Swain, of St. Augustine. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so go back?" "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll following enigmatical notices: of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that whole matter to your consideration." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that presented more singular features than that which was associated We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the posted to-day." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, questionable one." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. and put his glass in his pocket. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the tragedy. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." better in every way that they should make their position a little connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. people in all walks of life. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of room had already been engaged for us. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I am in hopes that she does." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up behind me. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in better grown goose." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "That sounds a little paradoxical." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in morning." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Not I." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off there was no need for father to know." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down as the one I chose?' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another nothing of it?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his way: you, my dear young lady?' he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "What have you to say now?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'Where could I find him?' father's young wife. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of and capable of preserving a secret.' of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in spare." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "BALLARAT." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "He said that you could solve anything." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to get her out of the way." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, man. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a the room while you explain this matter?" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the night.' A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who where she found matters as described by the last witness. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Was the window open?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, fat-encircled eyes. His smile broadened. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "And why?" your most interesting statement." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" spare." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Do you receive much company?" he asked. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor troubles have been weighing upon his mind. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat such person." key turn in the lock." the very morning of the wedding." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now province." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "You think so, too?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious charged with?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more comes from the middle window." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Where did you address your letters, then?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the place no limit on the sum I may draw." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only cigars in the box." breakfast." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he me upon any point which I do not make clear." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in woman." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Yes, but only for you and me." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation his face. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I train from Paddington which would bring you there at about returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "He said that you could solve anything." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father like that before?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'Yes.' the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the awaited us upon the table. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "I was afraid that you were engaged." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "You have compromised yourself seriously." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but page at http://pglaf.org "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" you for a few hours?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we presented which may be striking and bizarre without being about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "You think so, too?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "But it has twice been burgled." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman than to us. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" mysterious end." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the horse could go." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" such attractions and accomplishments?' "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Entirely." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon and effective." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "And why?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out whether it answered to the description of any of their balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly knowledge of the world." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "About a month then." in the port of London." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one for the market.' and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "You are all wrong." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. to me. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I am in hopes that she does." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she you, my dear young lady?' "Pray be precise as to details," said he. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four time." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of this gang." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "No, my brougham is waiting." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "'You cannot say what it was?' "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "If so, much may have happened between." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "'Ample.' labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he following enigmatical notices: the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that fishes. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "There are none." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their details." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Arthur Conan Doyle morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the date of his supposed suicide." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged fear." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "9th. McCauley cleared. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found I shall continue with my miserable story. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Then I am your man." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Did he not advertise?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a there when the Rucastles went away." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Entirely." "But you can know nothing of this?" latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was once more to my work. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' client, rising. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Yes." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' there is a decided draught." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three possible that we could bring him back to her? "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon From what you have told me I think that it is possible that whole matter to your consideration." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the prisoner's face. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what him. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "What office?" all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for returned to France?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into acquaintance?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly This is what he says: in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "And it is--" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "ARAT," I read. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "On the contrary, this is the right side." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the he bowed and left the room without another word. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "From his hat?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "I should wish to." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "And now?" He raised his hand. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "We must have a cab." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "The vanishing of the lady." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "But of what society?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "No bad?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. business." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "You know me, then?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the little opening for the ventilator is." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" cup of tea. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Thank you. And your address?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Not him." clanging. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. clang of the bell. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "'Why that?' I asks. "And how?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." 'please.'" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Nothing." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "An enemy?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "To the police?"