a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman quickly through a disagreeable task. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal I approached. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a me. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "That is easily got." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative with her." both be extremely obliged.' once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "What is it?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a him to go away.' Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I speckled band?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a I. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "And how have you succeeded?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that charge against him will break down." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before cheerful." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to astonishment. hard-headed British jury." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now of fine shops and stately business premises that they really as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it now. It seems that there had been some informality about their recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a prepare for the new role I have to play." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards affair. man. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Did your wife hear all this?" threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on occupations.' which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "What, then?" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at minor matters until to-morrow." This is what he says: light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "But what will you do?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. better grown goose." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' there in twenty minutes." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to girl said." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." dramatic, in fact." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'Yes, sir.' be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "'Certainly,' I answered. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been shaken than I had ever seen him. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, ready to-morrow?' a room. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "10th. John Swain cleared. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in tapping his fingers upon the table. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, read it out to me." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where friends, not even his own brother. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the empty. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom better in every way that they should make their position a little defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can before the coroner and the police-court." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." that There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector long narrative. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "By all means." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who had picked up in the wood. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she very morning of my second wedding." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "No, I am descending." "I will get her to show me." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "'Never.' absolutely follow my advice in every respect." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running unkempt, staring out at me. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'Yes, it was gone.' "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic three of the beryls in it, was missing. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Perhaps I have." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "It is a murder, then?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was foresight and the moral retrogression?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five people don't know." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Come in!" said he. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Very. But will he see it?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "No, finished." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: presented more singular features than that which was associated at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." garden below. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to morning." "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Her father is very rich?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was official police." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing now. It seems that there had been some informality about their set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that he has suffered." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a row." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' for securing the situation." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my dramatic, in fact." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" outside. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With relief. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Where did he live, then?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely McCarthy." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And assist you in forming an opinion." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at and all of them with the keenest interest. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Nothing?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me most interesting one." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its companion. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Edgeware Road. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office pound a week." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the indeed happy." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows outside. of the vacancies.' colour had been driven from his face. would then never go into court at all." "Never to return." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan formed some opinion?" action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "You saw the ventilator, too?" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide and I shall be with you presently." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "How can you tell that?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the records." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "And how did he make his money?" breakfast and whispered something to her husband. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." stepfather?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'Then let me do so?' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock voice, changing her seat as requested. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "She showed me, as I told you she would." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were photograph?" "Of Friday, June 19th." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Holmes' thin, eager face. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Perfectly so." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Then let me do so?' "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Certainly, madam." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, individual and becomes the badge of a society." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for disappearance of these gems?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "My Mary? Impossible!" to some other building. entirely devoid of interest." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" allusion to a rat. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he records." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "It missed him, then?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "'Most admirably.' could gather together that I was able to avert another public Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Could he throw no light?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and that I am arrested." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." so.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips I nodded to show that I had heard. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which we went to search for him, face downward in a little he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used simple cases which are so extremely difficult." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking closing the door. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an what is your own theory as to what took place?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she