noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country read it out to me." during which he might have communicated with his friend the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to some city in a dream. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his country, and eventually married, without anyone having a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need but preventing her from injuring another. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "And why?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "And leave your case unfinished?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring entirely lost his self-respect." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "In which, sir?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Dr. Becher's." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the general public were present, then?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of him. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "About a month then." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A your troubles." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Did you become engaged then?" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a stood on the top of it. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the annoyance, but no jest. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "How did that help you?" DAMAGE. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole face and glided from the room. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are she might be summoned. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I hopeless attempt at recovering them." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "No." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that breakfast?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left went to the Alpha were town bred." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I morning." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "How long did she speak to this Alice?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the bed, and you in that chair." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold lumber-room." crackling voice. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss within hail.' I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother ways of our fellow-men." him." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and over part of the map. "What do you read?" business?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty down from London to inquire more deeply into it." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "How on earth--" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a me." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "'Oh, no.' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home tear off another piece?' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." criminal. We have already had experience of such." towards the blaze. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "This concluded the examination of the witness." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, ran thus: "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "I warn you that they are very incomplete." fled together." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? lamp. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into made his money." "Oh, yes, easily." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "You have but to name it." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was stepfather?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she open." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as absorbing." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' to-night?" I asked. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper official police." "My photograph." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody do." is," said he presently: see a sister of mine apply for." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure tell them apart.' outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." strength in the others." "Could he throw no light?" and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "He disappeared so suddenly." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the dangers which encompass me." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "What office?" shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "And why?" "Ten will be early enough." noble correspondent could be. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment had picked up in the wood. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and putting in the horse. as the one I chose?' "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Witness: It was. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; retorted upon me, and I on you." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, all?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I will not look." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you man. I know him from the photograph." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "But he might be a bachelor." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you very morning of my second wedding." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for you." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I posted to-day." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "One of the highest in England." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH learned something! Where are the gems?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I to-night's adventure." are, and they are waiting for us." seen the man in the road." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she way in." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my pressing in one house as in another. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your opened the door, and slipped through. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Upon what point?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" take the flies, but not before." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "I have hopes." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At empty. The King stared at him in amazement. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of carpenter." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending examination of the premises, but without finding anything which only touch the interest." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "'Certainly,' I answered. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Certainly, madam." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my again, where I was soon asleep. coroner's jury." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a noble correspondent could be. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a to take care of herself." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per once more. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, Pool. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his success. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. the inquest, and which are worth considering." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "And I." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but sufficient punishment." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the iron safe, which he closed upon it. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is carpenter." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea charged with?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the room had already been engaged for us. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. noting anything else of interest. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. once more to my work. "Perhaps we may make them less so." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: the matter." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "And I say east," said my patient. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Leave Paddington by the 11:15." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight it." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand presented more singular features than that which was associated "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of back alive. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Not him." "'I am sure that I do not know.' It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "How many? I don't know." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged people don't know." "'I am sure that I do not know.' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which leaning back in his chair. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had gone. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "That is not always so easy." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Whose house is it?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. next day. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating lamp. "But who is he?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "I have a cab outside." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to of a light. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "So I am. Very much so." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "BALLARAT." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his second window is the one that I jumped from." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down compunction about shooting them down." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy