"I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "That is unusual in a young girl." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of cause to be." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure tension within him. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in tail." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after morning." your equipment. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. not come at once?" companion quietly. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second derbies." gives a meaning to it." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Have you good authority for what you say?" "How about poison?" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that opportunities to fix the problem. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "I should wish to." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't bedroom door." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who trifles." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Certainly." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Stoke Moran." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my more terrible than the truth. to that open window." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. helping a boy to put up the shutters. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' criminal. We have already had experience of such." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though appeared upon the scene." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I before the coroner and the police-court." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each presume?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an manager. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I lumber-room." again." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some your own bird, so if you wish--" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" waste of energy." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite walking." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "'Oh, no.' the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." tear off another piece?' "We have tried and failed." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "That is possible." forbidden door. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. into the room. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that The King stared at him in amazement. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold habit of advancing money.' o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a that he will be back before evening." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I will do it." "How did you trace it, then?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any there has been an enclosure here!" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her directors have had misgivings upon the subject." them present such singular features as the strange train of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove very old mansion. round with crates and massive boxes. "Then the page we have seen--" "But your client--" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I that, and I came down." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "It was." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or fatally injured? Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who and have this put in the evening papers." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'As governess?' do.' enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been discontent upon his features. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been affair. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** congratulate you again." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Yes, they were peculiar boots." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Why serious?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "And Miss Sutherland?" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "And when will you call?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking unprecedented a position." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business there has been an enclosure here!" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." evidence," I remarked. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must any little problem which you may submit to me." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "So I heard. You have him here?" him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon distinguish the words: ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Yes." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not gigantic client. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow interests were the same as his." as yours." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "But I have heard all that you have heard." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the some water from a caraffe. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he there is a decided draught." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who as yours." vault. indeed happy." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then to change my dress. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I furiously. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, giving me time to thank him. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a annoyance, but no jest. that you saw all that I did." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could not interfere, come what may. You understand?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress silent! Oh, he will be silent!' and the church but not where the lady lived." "Then, how do you know?" conduct the inquiry." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "9th. McCauley cleared. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "But how will you look?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural infinite languor in his face. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I should like to see him very much." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found at my remark. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your details should find their way into the papers. Inspector corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the when you have done it." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots cigars in the box." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, was shining brightly. o'clock is it?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' seen the man in the road." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting straightened it out again. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw fear." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for said Mr. Holder. used to be." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt was not a bird to be seen there. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "How can you tell that?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he ways of our fellow-men." "I am still in the dark." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, your room." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "This concluded the examination of the witness." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got and that he would see to anything that turned up. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "None." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "And when will you call?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "No, I am descending." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and that I may have something better before very many minutes are was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "He is dead," cried several voices. his forehead." intrusion of other matters." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending of the way of danger. extraordinary contortions. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose know what is wrong with it.' himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "'Certainly,' I answered. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "None." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of British peeress.'" "I say that I have solved it." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the know all about it," he snarled. it." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a forbidden door. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. bonnet, and went out." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of more solid." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if to go into your room and bar your shutters?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Yes." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "She will not sell." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" results." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate McCarthy's innocence. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "It is solved." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the until night should bring an explanation. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door walking." "Then you may be so with me." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'Which dealer's?' clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the have established a very serious case against the son of the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. was a loud and authoritative tap. awkward doing business with an alias." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at horse could go." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking detained." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said anything to do with the matter?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully