sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does memory. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for status with the IRS. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, conceal it?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own you came in." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Entirely." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as reach." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Clair, of Lee." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "It is solved." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his of this gang." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. guilty one." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat think, you have already met." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a ceremony." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and little trying to do so much typewriting?" highroad, where all traces were lost. started for the Temple to see my husband. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Always." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that over here." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. of it with the greatest attention. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "What steps will you take?" I asked. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat see me here to avoid scandal." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called directors, with the result that you have seen." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "May I see it?" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still your sleep?' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, round with crates and massive boxes. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. if I call to-morrow?" him!" "What then?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the the inner apartment." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I should like to see him very much." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door not personally threatened." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the so.' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that highly," said Holmes. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might way: tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he gbnewby@pglaf.org saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Witness: I must still refuse. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "My dear Holmes!" looking up at the numbers of the houses." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his he. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, might have a private word with us. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "I cannot as yet see any connection." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of will find little credit to be gained out of this case." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. breakfast." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, at a side door. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "A confidential servant?" agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off through." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." that threaten you." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate ceremony." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his said he. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun over with notes and figures. possible that we could bring him back to her? his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with room?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider success. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "The doctor?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Always." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "How about poison?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "The doctor?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Not yet." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "The doctor?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged you for a few hours?" ran thus: posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "She told me to ask you." that?' in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "I will not look." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little in a friendly supper." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "If so, much may have happened between." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Sutherland?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." all-comprehensive glances. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, the general public were present, then?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I golden eyeglasses. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Not him." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Here?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'Entirely.' feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Yes, from Horsham." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood the Red-headed League." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria within hail.' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open vanished into the darkness. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Did he not advertise?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is chemical work which was so dear to him. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the giving me time to thank him. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some photograph a cabinet?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I have a cab outside." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I tied." "I see many objections to any such theory." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "My dear Holmes!" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "One of his hands." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly bore every mark of being an average commonplace British an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I say that I have solved it." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were swore that no one else had been in the front room during the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing hands. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and is so. I know all about McCarthy." row." locked. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "I am all attention, madam." papers diligently of late, have you not?" flock.' myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'What then?' I asked. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Yes." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "It certainly sounds feasible." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four important." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see whole matter to your consideration." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, overpowering excitement and concern. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "My private note-paper." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Eh? What was that?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which locked." of it with the greatest attention. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a it means?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'What would be the hours?' I asked. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same my room." "'Most admirably.' "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "You horrify me." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled me." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a not fit the lock." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for ashen face. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging conclusions. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "But his lameness?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his roused himself from his reverie. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, stammered. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." handed it to him. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a new acquaintance to Baker Street. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very yet." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if good for you to do.' points to suicide?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the arrested. You then--" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped were new raised from a basin. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "I am following you closely," I answered. presume?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and him nearly every evening." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thirty. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to your Highness to the police-station?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when persecution?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems three of the beryls in it, was missing. what I may call a really hard day's work." man. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and