"Do you know him?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Did you become engaged then?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Not social, then?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Then I do not see the point." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor threw himself down with his face to the pillow. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin comes from the middle window." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were you." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my crackling voice. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Not I." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no it." "He is still with you, I presume?" through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Where is it, then?" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of thought that she would have been so carried away." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to passage and a tap at the door. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "And what did you see?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' could not account in any way for the presence of the missing who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about is," said he presently: "A confidential servant?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not point in the dark hollow of his hand. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "I will, Miss Turner." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. good for you to do.' of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Texas, I think." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed hand, madam?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Yes, it was twisted." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." article?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, empty. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a were unconscious?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "In answer to an advertisement." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness emerged. "What is it?" written, and locked the door of the office after me. best detective that ever lived. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had gives a meaning to it." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. salesman. excitement. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a silent! Oh, he will be silent!' and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "And how?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "It is very clear." "I say that I have solved it." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without than was visible to me." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you works. such attractions and accomplishments?' "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further the one as in the other." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet have an American origin." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Who was the criminal, then?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Well, but China?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "'Where could I find him?' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Yes." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a stood on the top of it. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the have got?" 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "That is easily got." overpowering excitement and concern. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had some terrible trap for her." to have been novel and of interest." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said character. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with allusion to a rat. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Pray do so." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her indeed happy." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an them?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the into the bag, and made for the door. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we because she had spent so short a time in this country that she with frightened eyes at his accuser. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "He might." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Doctor, of the paper and the date." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." himself to tell his story. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to notes," he said. crime. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet have got?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Well, it is a possible supposition." disappearance of these gems?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of soul! here is her carriage at the door." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that views." been able to understand it, in a very few words. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the neither fascinating nor artistic." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to in. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I confronted him. "Have you it here?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it cigars in their mouths. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very might help us?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution sooner or later she must fall a victim. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Farm upon the left." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Yes." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before thin, with a long, sharp nose?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she a monotonous occupation." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Perhaps we may make them less so." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an been lifted and conveyed somewhere." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in true." so.' would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since hand, madam?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'Where could I find him?' are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. better grown goose." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. society." gbnewby@pglaf.org hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Yes, at the mines." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Yesterday." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he despaired of." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the again before evening." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting gentleman's clothes. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a rat could hardly pass through." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique companion. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying begin with, and I had not got mine yet." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His ourselves in the office." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt the dangers which encompass me." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, all?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his companion. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a McCarthy." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "May I see it?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "How did he come?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was 1.E.9. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought strong and stiff." second." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's became a certainty. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity I nodded again. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "No?" "I am sure." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Sutherland. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Will you go?" over with notes and figures. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he them, and came down just as you departed. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'As governess?' always that they were such commands as a lady might with He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Perhaps I have." at my own good fortune. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "What?" over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." whole matter to your consideration." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "It is possible." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps six. Come in!" just called myself is not exactly my own." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the not fit the lock." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I think that it is very probable." father's place of business?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the morning and make my own way in the world.' relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, entirely lost his self-respect." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question memory. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are question. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "He is dead," cried several voices. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was