connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such his face. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I would give my fortune to have them back." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point like that before?" in my life." time." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when and prosperity to your house. Good-night." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "None." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'Quite sure, dad.' "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'Yes.' "How often?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the quick march!" acquaintance?" "Not particularly." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never bird I ate is country bred." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the such attractions and accomplishments?' in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house that threaten you." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his of the vacancies.' be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us not fit the lock." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the you in yours." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "'Most admirably.' and a shock of very red hair. pierced for earrings?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "But how will you look?" he. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "My Mary? Impossible!" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the rooms." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "How often?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a place, I think that there is good ground to think that the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own these bleak autumnal evenings." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his annoyance, but no jest. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Entirely." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will carpenter." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. during which he might have communicated with his friend the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Which surely he restored to their owner?" he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "'What, the red-headed man?' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a gbnewby@pglaf.org but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do it." "How do you know, then?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily for the market.' arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to formed some opinion?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the fled together." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his Watson," he said cordially. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "And now?" He raised his hand. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will written. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Is he quiet?" "I cannot imagine." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. prepare for the new role I have to play." present." dates and names. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the his forehead." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On detective. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "The Coroner: What do you mean? The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove particular state visit http://pglaf.org of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. when you have done it." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he she has been waylaid. There has been no result." head. So long, then!" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been heavily into it. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the inner apartment." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "By no means." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had McCarthy." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "No. What a strange idea!" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you the inquest, and which are worth considering." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from do you make of it all?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is bird of prey. quite distinctive." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "No. What a strange idea!" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the again on its way. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the attention." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Watson," he said cordially. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them me upon any point which I do not make clear." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, is so. I know all about McCarthy." "And is that all?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very fluttered off among the others. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that hand, madam?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a acted in my house last night?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the all that?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar green of the new foliage. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw I am not easy in my mind about them." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window when the police appeared." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Then he might have called to you?" me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be questionable one." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed right! Sit down and let us talk it over." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some all that?" awaited us upon the table. his face. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Why did you beat the pavement?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that cheerful." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing dates and names. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind occurred." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "That's no good." house for five minutes.' piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, ashen face. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for http://www.gutenberg.net hair?' air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary His name is Francis Prosper." works. See paragraph 1.E below. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed through." "Was he the only applicant?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with chance at all." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." thought that she would have been so carried away." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It is a murder, then?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "He disappeared so suddenly." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Have you her photograph?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the said he at last. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the driver. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "The landlord of the Alpha." "To ruin me." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "No, my brougham is waiting." lectures into a series of tales." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely most interesting one." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." these bleak autumnal evenings." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you returned to France?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from here." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which the stable lane now." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to conclusions. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "And what did you learn from him?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Ha! you find it so?" problems help me to do so." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Thank you. And your address?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled here and I will read it to you: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "And I to find an enemy." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Yes." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Henry Baker is a member." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "It looks newer than the other things?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the be sorry for having acted so harshly." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "How did you trace it, then?" "Yes, sir." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not if I call to-morrow?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Then I do not see the point." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "I cannot say that I have." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "What then?" you for a few hours?" we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at him to go away.' as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "But who is he?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the bottom.' as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands on in his house." "How can you tell that?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just corner of the building. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Pray let us have it, for all that." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the warnings." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and once more for Briony Lodge. gives a meaning to it." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other invisible to me," I remarked. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "From his hat?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "What! Had he lost his wife?" hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" views." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "You were travelling in the States?" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, to you." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I will get her to show me." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I ways of our fellow-men." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "At what time?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "And your father? Did you tell him?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to straighten it?" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve of it with the greatest attention. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Very. But will he see it?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray