"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I would pay ten." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "That's no good." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet been." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Arthur Conan Doyle face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and quickly through a disagreeable task. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a to affect your life." death." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some fattened it expressly for you.' "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'I have heard so.' "And is that all?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with congenial hunt. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." forebodings. voice, changing her seat as requested. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, your Highness to the police-station?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a may have an influence upon European history." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there mystery may be cleared along those lines." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some opened a pocket-book and took out a note. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "I am sure." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, comes from the middle window." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and have got?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and lamp. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon written, and locked the door of the office after me. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "'And the work?' of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "And what did you see?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the the very morning of the wedding." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Certainly." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And pound a week." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. think, you have already met." "Was the window open?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the Holmes' face clouded over. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Farm upon the left." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "None. Neville wrote those words." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Chief Executive and Director "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have The summons was a brief and urgent one. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. three fields round his house, and there he would take his "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she 1.E.9. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'Where to?' "Has he come with you to-night?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send it with his own hands." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of considering the formidable letters which were received by himself half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a existence." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "Why did you beat the pavement?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, used to be." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." residence of the great financier. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in very old mansion. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I see no marks." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Pray do so." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to that threaten you." anything to do with the matter?" stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It investigation." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's British peeress.'" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of and inquire as to the address." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can not fit the lock." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the south-west, I see." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." death." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." get her out of the way." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of then?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll during that time.' drawing your inferences." "But you have hopes?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "No." "What can you not understand?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman call for it in person on Monday morning.' "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "The Coroner: What do you mean? in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." ordinary clothes on?" lost nothing by them." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him for securing the situation." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Quite so." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very to where he stood hid behind the curtain. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler young Openshaw's." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Count Von Kramm." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old do.' schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against in one or two places in England?' could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "And when will you call?" highly," said Holmes. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "I came to find a friend." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which and effective." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which if she died from some sudden fright." "He said that you could solve anything." I am not easy in my mind about them." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It was." to-night's adventure." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO was a lad." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Sutherland. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Dark enough and sinister enough." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be through." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a with her." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "It is his hat." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "May I see it?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little learned something! Where are the gems?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink and the church but not where the lady lived." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the do.' Cross for the Continent." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not tell me that you intended to go into harness." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Not I." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Not in the least." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, me what he had done with the three missing stones. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the their singular warning or token before them when starting upon prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the house with me." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to all?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a feature." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and You want to know what became of those geese?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Never to return." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." thin legs towards the fire. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "We were both in the photograph." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Did you become engaged then?" exactly what you advise." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such closing the door. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I cannot think." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "You horrify me." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which and a shock of very red hair. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside you?" "'As governess?' purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. went to the Alpha were town bred." "What is it, then--a fire?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his sneer upon his pale face. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "I cannot say that I have." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the as he remarks, very much against the son." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been that threaten you." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I trifles." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, drawing your inferences." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must which our visitor detailed to us. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "It must be recovered." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went were new raised from a basin. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Edgeware Road. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge results." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "And on what day did he meet his death?" detective. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down woven round him. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows vague figure huddled up in the darkness. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "It is solved." jewels which you have stolen?' was it brought him the coronet? The King stared at him in amazement. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said you for a few hours?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late upon the shelf for the interim." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from sofa. This way, please!" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the congenial hunt. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you