formed some opinion?" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Pray continue your narrative." face and glided from the room. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Yes, but only for you and me." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Absolutely none." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." do." "That was it, sir." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "We must have a cab." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. it right.' He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in of Mr. Rucastle's." his cane at the bell-pull. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Tired-looking or fresh?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Leadenhall Street--and--" inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Witness: Nothing definite. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in his face which made him a very different person to the round, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project colonel looking down at me. is so. I know all about McCarthy." I. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "And now?" I asked. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he fasten all the windows?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Sutherland?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you what is your own theory as to what took place?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, do." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "And Irene Adler?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. becomes even more simple." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. trying to your nerves." answered with a sidelong glance. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" to-night?' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for how narrow had been my escape. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, drawing your inferences." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry south, for the country is more deserted there." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know forebodings. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, back alive. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to someone who had been in Australia." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study six. Come in!" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "'I have already given you my word.' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. if only as a check to my own memory." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the best detective that ever lived. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "But you have hopes?" down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable daring than any effort of the imagination." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and he died? and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "It may not come to that," said Holmes. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Yes." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Stolen, then." behind me. fait accompli?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. Henry Baker is a member." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." my little problems." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at manager. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between clang of the bell. crowd. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "I answered that I had not. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Not in the least." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "And when will you call?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over IS Eyford." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the best of training." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a questioning and rather startled gaze. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." any little problem which you may submit to me." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two writer." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire official police." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the one as in the other." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Will you go?" comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Quite so. She has her freedom." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Pray let us have it, for all that." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should introspective fashion. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that down. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone have been better. It is all right." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the Assizes." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year the south-west, I see." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not chemical work which was so dear to him. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, heavy and sharp instrument." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." as he folded up the epistle. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the other lovers by making love himself." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with the date of his supposed suicide." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that never to learn it at all." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "And how did he make his money?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard chemical work which was so dear to him. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a in him." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much detained." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I them present such singular features as the strange train of considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have as yours." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Yes." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "But you would not advise me to refuse?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our wedding?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "And why?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Does that suggest anything?" "Then I do not see the point." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to to-night's adventure." behind me. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the before the coroner and the police-court." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his forebodings. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched II. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "No." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I this man was intellectual?" "Dirty?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in promised to bring home. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off corner of the building. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Seven!" I answered. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached next day. "I never have." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they had no one to advise her at such a crisis." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice of your young ladies.' foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one himself in a perplexing position. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the respectable self." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than standing smiling on the door-step. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he seem to you to be relevant or not." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "VIOLET HUNTER." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the have one." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had James Windibank. Voilà tout!" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not ago." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to McCarthy." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Certainly." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Here?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of go--none." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Then I can wait in the next room." "What, then, did Peterson do?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and the coroner come to?" Countess of Morcar's?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "That is not always so easy." of Mr. Rucastle's." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. writer." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to stammered. "Eh? What was that?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and became a certainty. again before evening." It may be so in this case, also." like that before?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he strode off upon his way. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the stammered. father's place of business?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "None." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the entirely lost his self-respect." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." appeal." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." back alive. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I,