commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little garden below. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "And Irene Adler?" which it had come upon my father." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and we went to search for him, face downward in a little upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "And the murderer?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could noble correspondent could be. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been shag which I had seen upon the previous night. trifles." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Nothing?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party of them has the shutters up.' "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Oh, the cause is excellent!" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while what these perils are?" this poor creature." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open train from Paddington which would bring you there at about and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. into the room. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "No legal papers or certificates?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "I promise," said Holmes. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good furiously. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Henry Baker is a member." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." III. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "You think so, too?" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "I will, Miss Turner." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her at my remark. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should house for five minutes.' the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her look dissatisfied." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads congratulate you again." Henry Baker is a member." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them husband's writing, madam." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself hopeless attempt at recovering them." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "My opinion is in no way altered." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my of the efforts of the United States government and of the better And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the coronet in his hands?" "I guessed as much." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated used to be." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" hardly wander." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It together. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking his fortune, and I went back to pa. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off narrative." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my bare slabs of marble. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "To ruin me." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I closing the door. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" instincts rose up against that laugh. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. footfalls from the street. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair you?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon vanished into the darkness. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "You horrify me!" why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Street. your co-operation." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Ah!" your most interesting statement." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." bare slabs of marble. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "What! Had he lost his wife?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was were unconscious?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." I am not easy in my mind about them." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "You have the photograph?" "No?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the coronet in his hands?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria opportunities to fix the problem. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "No, distinctly professional." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "I will try. What is it?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I were unconscious?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, questionable one." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, door?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked which are rolled in Rotterdam." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but roused himself from his reverie. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss interested in these little problems, and since you are good "He might." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this go--none." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite pierced for earrings?" fishes. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." assist you in forming an opinion." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we in this note: fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary had a long day." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Pray do so." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a London for the present?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine happened." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "What do you mean?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and fait accompli?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich think that he is innocent?" "No. What a strange idea!" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "One of his hands." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "It is no ordinary one." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' row." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "'And what salary do you ask?' you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "What can you not understand?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the window, rose as we entered. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing success. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great several quiet little villages up there." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the wall." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "And who is her maid?" in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Yes." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Then, how do you know?" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Yes?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I am about to be married." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told within hail.' with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and few hundred pounds.' the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. least a fellow-countryman. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he The telegram which we eventually received came late one night of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when the Friday. Was it to be in church?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "To an English lawyer named Norton." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have His name is Francis Prosper." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the see a sister of mine apply for." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, was a lad." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand It was close upon four before the door opened, and a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "That is also quite modern," said the lady. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "My Mary? Impossible!" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir happened." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "ARAT," I read. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." train.' had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Oh, fresh and glossy." highroad, where all traces were lost. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and laid it on the table. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our plantation.' between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Of Friday, June 19th." hopeless attempt at recovering them." that I can to serve you." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Yes, all." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." and wait." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall that there was nothing in it, after all." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the bears upon the case?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who