the coronet in his hands?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself once more for Briony Lodge. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. The King stared at him in amazement. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at off." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing to his chemical studies. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Pray continue your narrative." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "I should wish to." "I came to find a friend." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "The vanishing of the lady." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east not fit the lock." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, was a lad." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "But his lameness?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy note?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague things are very often connected not with the larger but with the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. thought that she would have been so carried away." "I will do it." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have or in danger--" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "And what did you see?" came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Only as much as we can deduce." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City because she had spent so short a time in this country that she firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, 1.F. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was business?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and important." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account crowd. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "You don't mind breaking the law?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "VIOLET HUNTER." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what could gather together that I was able to avert another public something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said towards the blaze. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third you." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Gutenberg-tm License. "But what is it you wish?" street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms future lives." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he chill to my heart. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of direction." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "But who is he?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and overpowering excitement and concern. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see it." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in there!' "None. Neville wrote those words." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Holmes rather sternly. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I present." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left eavesdroppers?' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "But it has twice been burgled." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "And I say east," said my patient. detective. suspect him." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. fire. You quite follow me?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the laugh and put his lips to my ear. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid troubles have been weighing upon his mind. back into the street. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to detained." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out someone who had been in Australia." towards the blaze. present." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'Where could I find him?' assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the point in the dark hollow of his hand. "How many? I don't know." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "'What do you call purely nominal?' all-comprehensive glances. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "It was." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get will be renamed. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I say that I have solved it." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you lamp in his hand. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Pray be precise as to details," said he. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the child." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Very much so." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I husband's writing, madam." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Yes, certainly." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, details." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered the King without delay." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from promised to bring home. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." them present such singular features as the strange train of "You will not go there first?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in you." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in which it had come upon my father." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Tired-looking or fresh?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a retorted upon me, and I on you." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Dr. Becher's." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had in his hands." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "'Yes, sir.' his huge brown hands. sooner or later she must fall a victim. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress allusion to a rat. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as walking." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our some terrible trap for her." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little was the fact that his father should, according to his account, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous for and were ordered to this address. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, constraint." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would criminal. We have already had experience of such." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." kindly on the shoulder. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain enough to aid us in our search." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, is acting for the best. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man fire. You quite follow me?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes really the only notable feature about the thing." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most orange pips. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with in the hope of finding them." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! bears upon the case?" be there in time for your coming." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "I am still in the dark." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Does that suggest anything?" sound at heart." "Then the page we have seen--" be best to do. be sorry for having acted so harshly." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "'There is a drive, then?' I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission may have an influence upon European history." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." one else, I think." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo assist you in forming an opinion." hands. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, seen the man in the road." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "But I have heard all that you have heard." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Eyford." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Where did you address your letters, then?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has papers on the sundial.'" "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. derbies." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a fatally injured? Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass seem to you to be relevant or not." "Yes." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he that you wished to speak to me?' what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider it were putty." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Won't it ring?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as someone who had been in Australia." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'What would be the hours?' I asked. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Mrs. Toller serenely. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Count Von Kramm." to some other building. my little problems." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "You horrify me!" "What then?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I character. there when the Rucastles went away." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle in his hands." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I