preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I money should be paid at once.' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For his huge brown hands. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the night.' said he. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is not, dad?" she asked. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed ceremony." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "VIOLET HUNTER." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was me, and I could not think that his explanation of the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing shall not find me ungrateful." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls public press." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no passage and a tap at the door. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Dr. Becher's." highly," said Holmes. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Quite so." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Lestrade of Scotland Yard." have got?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than intrusion of other matters." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece little adventures." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate out of this horrible affair." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "What do you make of that, Watson?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "At half-wages, in fact." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "No." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Mrs. Toller serenely. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He of the efforts of the United States government and of the better him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek one of the states of the Union." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "'Ten to two.' me. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is unkempt, staring out at me. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we closely." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "None." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I am all attention, madam." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, straightened it out again. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough wedding?" had a long day." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very remarked. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such address. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was time." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy you came in." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "My Mary? Impossible!" think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "My opinion is in no way altered." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. License. You must require such a user to return or between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I am sure." The King stared at him in amazement. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "The landlord of the Alpha." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." started for the Temple to see my husband. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, conclusions. "The rest you will leave in our hands." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "And how did you verify them?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I how narrow had been my escape. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "And why?" a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my me. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "That was it, sir." "In San Francisco, a year ago." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to bearing upon the case." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Lee, in the county of Kent." and a shock of very red hair. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I cannot think." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'Quite sure, dad.' "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "She walked into the breakfast-room." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "I shall be delighted." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Yes, I have one waiting." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." your room." "What of the rat, then?" earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "And the cigar-holder?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "And why?" "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Have you it here?" gigantic client. to some other building. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me minor matters until to-morrow." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "'Is purely nominal.' With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had to miss it." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he in a friendly supper." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation unkempt, staring out at me. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." nothing with him." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Eyford at 11:15.' on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'Yes.' very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address and have this put in the evening papers." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Did you become engaged then?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of were unconscious?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less observed. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the would then never go into court at all." you want, then?' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in them, and came down just as you departed. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the before, for it was considerably after midnight. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' cause to be." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." article?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" closing the door. "I cannot as yet see any connection." true." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his better in every way that they should make their position a little asked with his eyes open. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and to tell." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Married! When?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. and laid it on the table. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He of note-paper. It read in this fashion: been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "It was." "How often?" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Yes." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn way in everything. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Dr. Gregory B. Newby object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'What then?' I asked. relief. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and shoulder. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "No." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I will try. What is it?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are chambers. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his the nursery. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the driver. society." furiously. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "You know me, then?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission have got?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Young McCarthy must be got off, however." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my intrusion of other matters." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood had picked up in the wood. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Yes." "ARAT," I read. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long them?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Frequently." "And you don't know his address?" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Countess of Morcar's?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "On Monday." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the them, and came down just as you departed. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as arrested. You then--" "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to row." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even