impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of his grey eyes. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We such attractions and accomplishments?' you, my dear young lady?' stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can that threaten you." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then said I. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old security.' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "I think that I had better go, Holmes." bill, which interests me deeply." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you second." "It looks newer than the other things?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic depend upon your compliance." have had none more fantastic than this." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Yes, at the mines." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried upon the white wrist. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, said I. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the house with me." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in in his hands." dramatic, in fact." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood as yours." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Yes." make me his representative both with the servants and with the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass your Highness to the police-station?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch laugh and put his lips to my ear. the running down." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Who by?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added without success. At last the little money which I had saved began nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little goes." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Then he might have called to you?" legal crime." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent held up the lantern and gazed about him. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of retorted upon me, and I on you." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a used to be." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "And who is her maid?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the you understand?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the for its centre. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for colour had been driven from his face. showing my impatience. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Do you go out much in society?" disturbance in my wife." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "What!" he roared. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over shall use the carriage to-night." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us lamp in his hand. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "'Certainly not. But why?' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg it." "Stolen." official police." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "VIOLET HUNTER." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better be best to do. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "You think so, too?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without the one as in the other." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of himself to hunt down. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds room. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy instincts rose up against that laugh. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I should like to see him very much." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were time." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used comes from the middle window." Gutenberg-tm License. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." down. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Look there!" said he. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We business." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself presume?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my time." drawing your inferences." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and everything which you would wish to know." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with do you make of it all?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. works. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong round and wave him away like that.' "The best possible." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and just ask you whether you had heard it.' experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. this remarkable episode. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "What are they?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name train.' acquaintance?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Do you receive much company?" he asked. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, at my remark. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "'Never,' said I. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from once more on the important position which you have been fortunate home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy way: once more. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was hour." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in this remarkable episode. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the warnings." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised formed some opinion?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the child." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Street. "By no means." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Where does the thing come from?' could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the back into the street. "You don't mind breaking the law?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of bonnet, and went out." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "What! You do not mean bodies?" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "I have my revolver," said I. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate have not had my rubber." "Not in the least." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a interests were the same as his." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "A call for help, you thought?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his seen the man in the road." "Where is it, then?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I The events in question occurred in the early days of my at my remark. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "No, thank goodness, she did not." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "I don't believe it." "The rest you will leave in our hands." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "How about poison?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he fled together." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "That is it on the dressing-table." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. notes," he said. money should be paid at once.' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "No, but the enclosure is." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped a little more before I quite committed myself. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the telegram would bring me down to your help." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. room. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H bare slabs of marble. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "And how did he make his money?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling already referred to. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Street. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "The vanishing of the lady." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police address. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "But how will you look?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to certainly do as you advise." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what note?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the you do it in twenty minutes!' there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Here?" so far?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "But of what society?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some very morning of my second wedding." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival and capable of preserving a secret.' "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put one else, I think." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. and effective." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, nothing with him." lamp in his hand. "Precisely." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "No, I think that I'll take it." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to or in danger--" "The rest you will leave in our hands." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you II. "No?" distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock good for you to do.' Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "But how did you gain them?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Sutherland?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into man. I know him from the photograph." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little October 9, 1890. he. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "VIOLET HUNTER." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had me. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called I have it here in my museum." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I will not look." gives a meaning to it." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "What is it?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "But how could you guess what the motive was?" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to