conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He detained." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." his eyes and forehead. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "And how did you verify them?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." brain must have something in it." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side I think that I could be of assistance to you." putting in the horse. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, pound a week." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted is," said he presently: of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way married her." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' his face. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "How did that help you?" "That you are never beaten." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of eat it." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "It missed him, then?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "How do you know, then?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter happened." said he. fatally injured? the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering of the one which your family is now devouring." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great once more to my work. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "And how in the world did you find them?" south, for the country is more deserted there." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and dates and names. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in said he at last. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "No sign of it?" showing my impatience. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all four million human beings all jostling each other within the was feeling which was the fattest.' through." begun to whiten, even as mine has." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Where, then?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "What will you say?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I wedding?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "He is dead," cried several voices. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Sutherland?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present know that the truth is known." looking up at the numbers of the houses." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband directly by questioning you." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Here?" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the enter into my head. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well washing it down with a long draught of water. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in out of this horrible affair." distinguish the words: making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have showing my impatience. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "There are none." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to have not had my rubber." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of may have an influence upon European history." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "So I heard. You have him here?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his unclasping of his long thin hands. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I unprecedented a position." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the think, you have already met." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. would apply.' taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H the ceiling. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured seven miles from Eyford Station.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me national property. I was determined that the law should have its smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange together. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'As governess?' words came to my lips. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg evidence," I remarked. strength of mind to control. writing, and yet I know it well." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You discontent upon his features. "But his lameness?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman guilty one." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I place, I think that there is good ground to think that the for and were ordered to this address. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is respectable self." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in back alive. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other completely overtopped every other consideration that we both the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed not personally threatened." for securing the situation." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "But his left-handedness." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad him and tried to hold him back. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced main points of my analysis." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at of your young ladies.' had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Never." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "No." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Holmes, the busybody!" head. So long, then!" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of papers on the sundial.'" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "And what then?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "I don't believe it." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads little trying to do so much typewriting?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There present strange and interesting features that it is no easy door?" some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Certainly." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "And the cigar-holder?" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "That sounds a little paradoxical." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" peculiar to him. "Always." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of wanted for ourselves." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped held up the lantern and gazed about him. "What is it?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire peculiar to him. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this redistribution. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham in my life." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." she might be summoned. "I have my revolver," said I. minor matters until to-morrow." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "To an English lawyer named Norton." "The vanishing of the lady." too. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, bird I ate is country bred." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have himself to tell his story. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of nonsense.' "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months hand, madam?" "I cannot imagine." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have looking up at the numbers of the houses." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the a little more before I quite committed myself. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Then how many are there?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, affair. in the port of London." "Not yet." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a past. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I am in hopes that she does." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "What will you do, then?" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I shag which I had seen upon the previous night. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been enough to aid us in our search." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very most interesting one." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which imbecility!" he cried. brain must have something in it." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the coronet in his hands?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this to have been novel and of interest." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault