"When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I at my remark. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Does that suggest anything?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every handed it to him. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining of." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Have you good authority for what you say?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "No more words. Get out!" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. someone who had been in Australia." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." address. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. as yours." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. present." could not have written that. It is the German who is so fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight empty. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious are windows in it, of course?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "What will you say?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We You want to know what became of those geese?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon again." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I hurried by. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is think that any burglar could have done. it were putty." in. for its centre. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I good for you to do.' the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "It is very clear." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "That is possible." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Pray do so." taking in every detail of the apartment. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "My dear Holmes!" have not had my rubber." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Edgeware Road. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. breakfast?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." manager. to affect your life." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the written. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap photograph?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, done what I asked you, Jones?" man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Very murderous indeed." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'Ten to two.' dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman you?' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her look dissatisfied." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in outside. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you beyond words. "None." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend o'clock is it?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "And from a noble client?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have to go into your room and bar your shutters?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts night.' said he. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in me have 200 pounds?' well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "How did you deduce the select?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such nights." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in narrative." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is hurried by. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold prepare for the new role I have to play." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have horse could go." "What!" he roared. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money rose-bushes. "I will get her to show me." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Then, as to money?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of business came to an end." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point it were putty." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to imbecility!" he cried. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has better in every way that they should make their position a little own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the business." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight you in yours." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I this as likely?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his over part of the map. "What do you read?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "But what is it you wish?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Nothing?" "Witness: I must still refuse. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Quite so. She has her freedom." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is American. Then who could this American be, and why should he never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I will try. What is it?" girl said." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Yes, sir.' pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "No legal papers or certificates?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE his eyes and forehead. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began pictures, libraries, or plate. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do situation." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Certainly." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful extraordinary contortions. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Yes." prepare for the new role I have to play." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "At what time?" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the thirty. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "How about poison?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have may never be exposed to such a temptation." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his stepfather?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see purpose equally well?" away into the river." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a and that he would see to anything that turned up. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long possible that we could bring him back to her? "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, maid will bring up your coffee." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "You are all wrong." you want, then?' Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in this note: alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry eavesdroppers?' few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: will he say when he returns?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post plantation.' evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "You have the photograph?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding there in twenty minutes." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a are windows in it, of course?" "Was she in good spirits?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with to some other building. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" main points of my analysis." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and locked. "No, I am descending." Henry Baker is a member." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had there." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. His smile broadened. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the room. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, with you alone." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Yes." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we views." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and towards the blaze. "Of Friday, June 19th." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "A client, then?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the following enigmatical notices: constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The believe that I should never have any practice at all. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Could he throw no light?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Not in a good cause." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." arrested. You then--" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Proceed, then." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the as he folded up the epistle. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and strength." Street. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Yes." "'Most admirably.' you." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must I. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was back alive. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had page at http://pglaf.org the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Not I." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding country, and eventually married, without anyone having a clang of the bell. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from experiences." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you seven miles from Eyford Station.' as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his during that time.' only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which one else, I think." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous there in twenty minutes." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Again Holmes raved in the air. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you secret." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the warnings." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots nonsense.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you she used." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "The vanishing of the lady." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she never to learn it at all." if only as a check to my own memory." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for woman who has had her own way to make in the world. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "It is true that I have been generally successful." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "What shall I do?" fattened it expressly for you.' while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And