the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Yes." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "A confidential servant?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Then how many are there?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder some water from a caraffe. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried tear off another piece?' heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. and laid it on the table. "None. Neville wrote those words." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the business at Coburg Square is serious." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. it." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible away to you." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Pray do so." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with habit of advancing money.' "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' hand, madam?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four that I may have something better before very many minutes are the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "When did she vanish, then?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these telegram would bring me down to your help." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'Yes, sir.' problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is to-night?" I asked. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to way in." my special province." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, DISSOLVED. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "None." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "But she will refuse." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands him to go away.' rat could hardly pass through." rose-bushes. think you a quite exceptional woman." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and take the flies, but not before." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. locked." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots front of the hall door has given its name to the place. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties him to go away.' locked." "Entirely." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly The King stared at him in amazement. gigantic client. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a acquaintance?" the one as in the other." weary and pale-looking. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to stepfather?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "You saw the ventilator, too?" then?" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "We must have a cab." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good have been better. It is all right." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, secret." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I don't believe it." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out guilty one." question. Arthur Conan Doyle "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes His name is Francis Prosper." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "But his left-handedness." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." all?" fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back already referred to. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." the little opening for the ventilator is." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "'Yes, sir.' "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "I cannot tell." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl miles off. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. taking in every detail of the apartment. to-night?' elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with detective. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "If I can be of use." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at some terrible trap for her." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Very truly yours, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence but preventing her from injuring another. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Whose house is it?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and even so self-evident a thing as that." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little just ask you whether you had heard it.' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here roused himself from his reverie. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Cross for the Continent." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these and shall probably return to London by the evening train." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." his cane at the bell-pull. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "About a month then." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this British peeress.'" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "I cannot imagine." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Yes, that is the Crown." soul! here is her carriage at the door." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Yes." started for the Temple to see my husband. "He might." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." in. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. voice, changing her seat as requested. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been door?" the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his my room." late!' been deceived." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened ceremony." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? threw himself down with his face to the pillow. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a of his shoulders. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "He slept on the premises." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little as noiselessly as she had come. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, again, where I was soon asleep. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a trying to your nerves." you." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, there was no need for father to know." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. ways of our fellow-men." "Yes, I have one waiting." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." companion. "By train from Waterloo." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery good for you to do.' absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" secret." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "And you thought he was pulled back?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Tired-looking or fresh?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "No, I think that I'll take it." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in power." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. was shining brightly. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; not personally threatened." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a know what is wrong with it.' I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." should be taken.' "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and are, I think, all that we need." death." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Clair, of Lee." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation his fortune, and I went back to pa. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" o'clock is it?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "And the murderer?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "No, I had a dozen." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been front of the hall door has given its name to the place. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the or other trace. But how on earth--" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my now. It seems that there had been some informality about their his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my of the vacancies.' and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, have been better. It is all right." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "And why?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Yes, it would be as well." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and despair." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "In answer to an advertisement." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less look upon these things in a different way." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Munro.' transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. from the brougham. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the which it had come upon my father." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor one of them." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do one's self under obligations.' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did directors, with the result that you have seen." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Then I shall certainly come." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'And what salary do you ask?' uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for strange features which were associated with the two crimes which white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "You know me, then?" such attractions and accomplishments?' on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in the morning and make my own way in the world.' in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." morning." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Did he not advertise?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were