was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a details." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the fishes. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable upon the shelf for the interim." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing main points of my analysis." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then fat-encircled eyes. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "And how have you succeeded?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "'As governess?' hardly wander." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder was lame." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "How can you tell that?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the King without delay." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Eh? What was that?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the case before our client came into the room." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent breakfast and whispered something to her husband. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such have been better. It is all right." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked vanished into the darkness. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my his cane at the bell-pull. closing the door. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and was used.' Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "'Ample.' pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense bed dies. Does not that strike you?" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. he died? occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Where did you address your letters, then?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped comes from the middle window." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been page at http://pglaf.org "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to from the brougham. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "You did not overhear what they said?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Again Holmes raved in the air. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking coroner's jury." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial writing, and yet I know it well." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "I am about to be married." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, sufficient punishment." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased passage and a tap at the door. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes mystery!" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal room had already been engaged for us. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers individual and becomes the badge of a society." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "I came to find a friend." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary round and wave him away like that.' far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "How can you tell that?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Certainly, madam." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round felt the room to be a little close.' photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "What I expected to see." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a from you?" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to During two years I have had three consultations and one small have had none more fantastic than this." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "You think so, too?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very there when the Rucastles went away." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. said Mr. Holder. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "What is it?" it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." ran thus: that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, stalked out of the room. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over disappearance of the bride.'" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon thought that she would have been so carried away." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America and the colonel ushered me in. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is absorbing." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had sooner or later she must fall a victim. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with most important business. It is probable that he will be away all have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "She told me to ask you." once more. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in events than those which have happened in my own family." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact me what he had done with the three missing stones. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "At the wedding breakfast." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "That you are never beaten." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good brought there to personate someone, and the real person is to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and at my remark. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" voice, changing her seat as requested. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. down. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "I am all attention, madam." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case lost nothing by them." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "That is unusual in a young girl." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Was she in good spirits?" bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "To ruin me." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and anything to do with the matter?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. been shamefully used." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. tear off another piece?' quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down strong and stiff." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' side. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "I was afraid that you were engaged." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." tell me that you intended to go into harness." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Yes, from Horsham." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at affection." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a over part of the map. "What do you read?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "'What then?' I asked. key of the affair now." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside into the bag, and made for the door. him to be an active member of the medical profession." been shamefully used." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a fire. You quite follow me?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, of Mr. Rucastle's." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "My private note-paper." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would burst out into a roar of laughter. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and inquire as to the address." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the coronet at all injured?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of in. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the nursery. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a undoubtedly my uncle's." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the dangers which encompass me." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Does that suggest anything?" "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Proceed, then." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Entirely." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, public press." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. there." "And the murderer?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of within hail.' most interesting one." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or matters immensely." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major relief. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through could not account in any way for the presence of the missing III. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a spare." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out DAMAGE. it means?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us good-night and bustled off upon her way. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too examination of the premises, but without finding anything which possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now memory. read it out to me." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions wanted for ourselves." whereabouts. his eyes and forehead. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "I cannot imagine." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on woman." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." strong and stiff." upon the white wrist. the inquest, and which are worth considering." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Why serious?" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I were wasted." "Her father is very rich?" my secret was safe in his possession. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I detective. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. himself to hunt down. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, yards of it?' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a that you saw all that I did." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used morning." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no views." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.