showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her ourselves in the office." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "I never have." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked fashion which was peculiar to him. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'Yes, it was gone.' their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a wedding?" "Very. But will he see it?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "In which, sir?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all politicians who had been sent down from the North. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "And Irene Adler?" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a sufficient punishment." Pope's Court. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in papers." them present such singular features as the strange train of "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal open." went to the Alpha were town bred." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he appeared upon the scene." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "But not more so than I to find you." do.' with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that never came back." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced photograph?" foot. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Nothing." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project in this note: as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view I leave." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without has little to do with my story." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "'A dozen yards or so.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "No legal papers or certificates?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. a very grave face. observed. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "You horrify me!" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were formed some opinion?" John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime remarked. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it DISSOLVED. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in matter." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Chief Executive and Director narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Ten will be early enough." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head companion imperturbably. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple you?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea companion. of Fenchurch Street." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Murdered?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as outsides of the windows. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Why did you beat the pavement?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue see a sister of mine apply for." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered pressing in one house as in another. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry interested in these little problems, and since you are good Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "But what will you do?" think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Yes." you, my dear young lady?' "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon business matters.' for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "What! a murderous attack?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Married! When?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this absorbing." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter upon the white wrist. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider mystery." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "You think so, too?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See strange features which were associated with the two crimes which to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social bird of prey. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin upon an income of about 60 pounds." III. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "'Yes, sir.' made his money." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "You think so, too?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the dear old homesteads?" "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you God! What an exposure! What can I do?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found hereditary King of Bohemia." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" sofa. This way, please!" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. back to my heart. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Not yet." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I not as remarkable as your advertisement." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so unprecedented a position." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. better in every way that they should make their position a little "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "And you can do nothing until then?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' ways of our fellow-men." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Holmes' face clouded over. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the them?" "Witness: I must still refuse. these bleak autumnal evenings." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "You have a clue?" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in face and glided from the room. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of mystery may be cleared along those lines." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, happened." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of to some other building. could not have written that. It is the German who is so "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt matter." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "'Entirely.' that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "But you were on a friendly footing?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a voice. the coronet in his hands?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped respectable self." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a official police." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" window when the police appeared." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible certainly not very gracious." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "What have you done?" asked Holmes. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "I have solved it." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. for and were ordered to this address. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Pope's Court, Fleet Street." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I promise," said Holmes. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "At half-wages, in fact." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "I have solved it." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to open." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I am sure." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few in this note: "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots that threaten you." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Which are?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would the coronet in his hand?" "And how did he make his money?" exactly what you advise." bird I ate is country bred." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Do you know him?" "Which are?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his in a very precise fashion." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to are, and they are waiting for us." with you alone." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "It surprised me." "You did not overhear what they said?" know that the truth is known." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There humiliation." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened overpowering excitement and concern. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I cannot imagine." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Nor running a chance of arrest?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Witness: Nothing definite. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple know that the truth is known." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "And your father? Did you tell him?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an American. Then who could this American be, and why should he front of me. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back he. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "That is it on the dressing-table." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." young Openshaw's." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, here." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "What office?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "To the police?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I would give my fortune to have them back." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. advice." disturbance in my wife." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"