beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without beyond words. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the little opening for the ventilator is." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' During two years I have had three consultations and one small more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "'Very good.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down meant." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Then how many are there?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that if she died from some sudden fright." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, was not a bird to be seen there. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the then?" broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, I shall continue with my miserable story. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his outside." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and that you saw all that I did." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Ah!" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "'I shall certainly be there.' it. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the was lame." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been three of the beryls in it, was missing. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding breakfast and whispered something to her husband. what do you think they found in the pockets?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my was a loud and authoritative tap. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I should be immensely obliged to you." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the his fortune, and I went back to pa. before the coroner and the police-court." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She remarked. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power legal crime." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "I answered that I had not. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in silent! Oh, he will be silent!' waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "We have tried and failed." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am was it brought him the coronet? "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me you do it in twenty minutes!' "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest anything to a woman, for she would have her way." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "ARAT," I read. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "So I am. Very much so." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the interested in these little problems, and since you are good anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down them?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three it were putty." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is things are very often connected not with the larger but with the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "What can it mean?" I gasped. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "What!" he roared. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left go--none." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Have you good authority for what you say?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No companion quietly. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "I cannot imagine." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Leadenhall Street--and--" drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was true." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." I nodded again. clanging. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Pope's Court. The events in question occurred in the early days of my works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "What, then?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "He said too much." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Absolutely none." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "'Then let me do so?' at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was voice. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "It came here." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "In which, sir?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "There is the writing." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found this unhappy family?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and call the police, let the police find what they can.' have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Yes, he did." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing a suggestive one." "What is it?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they where Mr. Fordham shows you.' was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Yes." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "By all means." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, prepare for the new role I have to play." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "'Quite sure, dad.' "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you returned to France?" "Pray do so." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Literary Archive Foundation my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have stammered. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive gone. the window, rose as we entered. knowledge of the world." "And help." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. too. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a what I may call a really hard day's work." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." be.' "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the held up the lantern and gazed about him. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that you wished to speak to me?' took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to new acquaintance to Baker Street. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "It surprised me." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips 1.F. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and once more for Briony Lodge. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Pool. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I cannot tell." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock fact, we may call it conclusive." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so ran thus: "'And what are they worth?' I asked. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "His face fell immediately. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little to-night." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "One horse?" interjected Holmes. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a matter." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! trifles." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin plantation.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "What!" he roared. "The doctor?" thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And into the room. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Then the page we have seen--" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual individual and becomes the badge of a society." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. get her out of the way." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to chance at all." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Yes, he did." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the nursery. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." important." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said investigation." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the I held the little printed slip to the light. "I don't say that. Perhaps." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "But how did you gain them?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'Then let me do so?' "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Perfectly so." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes better in every way that they should make their position a little pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." into the bag, and made for the door. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the once more for Briony Lodge. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Oh, fresh and glossy." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, where we are going." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of was used.' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "Deserted you?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'How far from the body?' the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "That is not always so easy." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Dr. Gregory B. Newby hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and them?" "Could he throw no light?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "That was it, sir." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with not use it unless it is absolutely needed."