Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already telegram would bring me down to your help." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "How long did she speak to this Alice?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, which are rolled in Rotterdam." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about you found me to-night--and running through the front room she she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just instituted." Foundation yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as of note-paper. It read in this fashion: were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "My photograph." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the very morning of the wedding." with her." hopeless attempt at recovering them." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one 11:15.' effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the nursery. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See fatally injured? sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying back to my heart. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "My dear Holmes!" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" families. Now for the facts. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. there." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the as the one I chose?' week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "That you are never beaten." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end only touch the interest." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "I will do it." Leadenhall Street--and--" a little more before I quite committed myself. "You forget that I know nothing about it." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Nothing." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and inquire as to the address." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Dirty?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Nearly eleven." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "It is very clear." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, crime. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." already been minutely examined." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I outbreak?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, was a perfect sample of the class. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Yes, he did." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at outside. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further of Mr. Rucastle's." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Then how many are there?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a like gravel from a pit.' not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Never to return." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Precisely." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'Then let me do so?' "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "It is no ordinary one." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice possible that we could bring him back to her? though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Has he come with you to-night?" "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the window, rose as we entered. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent to tackle the facts." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making other lovers by making love himself." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Well, but China?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "But to whom?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Young McCarthy must be got off, however." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the never came back." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended prisoner's face. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "In what way?" asked Holmes. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." wedding?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I think that I had better go, Holmes." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Whose house is it?" This is what he says: me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I upon the shelf for the interim." "Yes." "Your presence might be invaluable." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' back to my heart. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a despaired of." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Lestrade of Scotland Yard." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "What steps will you take?" I asked. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than amused." copied or distributed: would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "The best possible." at a side door. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "She showed me, as I told you she would." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's it." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in records." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this outsides of the windows. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "I am armed." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more plantation.' more solid." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. I leave." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the all?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "It came here." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that results." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" would apply.' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. populous neighbourhood." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in for and were ordered to this address. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a make me his representative both with the servants and with the said Mr. Holder. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "His face fell immediately. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was ill-usage at the hands of fortune. congenial hunt. fire. You quite follow me?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." held up the lantern and gazed about him. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had as the one I chose?' Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying appointment with me for six o'clock?" the room while you explain this matter?" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and glanced through. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One train.' the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would in a friendly supper." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has peculiar to him. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, hands. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of wanted for ourselves." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "And now?" I asked. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project closely." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was forehead. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "By no means." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very straightened it out again. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he are windows in it, of course?" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been upon the shelf for the interim." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "None." matter over." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as together. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable following enigmatical notices: "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to maiden herself was most instructive." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; heavily into it. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. was shining brightly. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "What!" he roared. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part system of imprisonment?" "Of what day?" "And that is--" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them cigar and let me expound." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at kindly on the shoulder. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I should wish to." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good my former friend and companion. "The Coroner: What do you mean? "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Yes?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Yes, sir." "That is not always so easy." you give your casting vote to?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger villagers almost as much as their master. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing details." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "'Ten to two.' silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter