if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, here and I will read it to you: dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. delirious. "Ample." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards where Mr. Fordham shows you.' was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "But how will you look?" chamber." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send secret." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray present strange and interesting features that it is no easy expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a vanished into the darkness. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the kindly on the shoulder. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the roots. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" bled considerably." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set the window, rose as we entered. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Have you it here?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for geese which you supplied to the Alpha." status with the IRS. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, is," said he presently: What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be throat." unprecedented a position." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." most interesting one." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Then I can wait in the next room." were unconscious?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Which surely he restored to their owner?" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Ah, but I was recommended to you." dramatic, in fact." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time bare slabs of marble. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the congratulate you again." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together on in his house." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Pool. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, be. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door disappearance of the bride.'" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who his fortune, and I went back to pa. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of danger is over." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we for securing the situation." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and keep the flames under. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, undoubtedly my uncle's." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced them?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property status with the IRS. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over was once confined in the cab my mission was practically for its centre. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Can I be of assistance?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle matters immensely." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped will take you up to see the machine.' robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. his fortune, and I went back to pa. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' place of silver." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had swore that no one else had been in the front room during the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father written. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Indeed! Whose, then?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "The best possible." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any some city in a dream. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a such person." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no assist you in forming an opinion." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, train.' glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" tied." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was heavy and sharp instrument." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have their singular warning or token before them when starting upon The note was undated, and without either signature or address. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been enter into my head. "Not particularly." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Pool. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed wall." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less about here speaks of his kindness to him." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Holmes rather sternly. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his careless servant girl?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me will he say when he returns?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It as noiselessly as she had come. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated little trying to do so much typewriting?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into security.' you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." bare slabs of marble. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had these bleak autumnal evenings." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" shoulder; "he's all right." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside down. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Indeed! Whose, then?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the which are rolled in Rotterdam." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Yes." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that only touch the interest." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may certainly not very gracious." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding records." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. such attractions and accomplishments?' diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. his huge brown hands. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which lost nothing by them." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging vault. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our carriage. It was a chestnut." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, should be so warm over such a trifle." for its centre. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it like gravel from a pit.' "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, security.' about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "I cannot tell." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "'And what are they worth?' I asked. sound at heart." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Stoke Moran?" said he. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "A greater distance to travel." I nodded again. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" that I am arrested." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I me. You must get home instantly and act." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle friends, not even his own brother. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the constraint." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this take the flies, but not before." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle confronted him. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of presume?" of campaign. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "What steps will you take?" I asked. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I very morning of my second wedding." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet fatally injured? remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, jewels which you have stolen?' be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and have an American origin." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. our word." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "That you are never beaten." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on whole matter to your consideration." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at fire. You quite follow me?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom narrative." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he beg that you will break it off." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. crackling voice. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the flock.' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, case before our client came into the room." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I for and were ordered to this address. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I know where it is." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Game for a morning drive?" "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. some water from a caraffe. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "You are certainly joking, Holmes." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that have I gained?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. assist you in forming an opinion." note?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been