course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Certainly." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to believe that I should never have any practice at all. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "I came to find a friend." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to written. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the at once, for I have only half an hour." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Ah!" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf your Highness to the police-station?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in you." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be papers on the sundial.'" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Sholtos." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "None. Neville wrote those words." foot. ago." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the kindly on the shoulder. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed photograph a cabinet?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Then I am your man." was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in delighted to hear it," he said. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself least a fellow-countryman. the running down." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "How do you know, then?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He could not account in any way for the presence of the missing basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "My dear Holmes!" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" copied or distributed: "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room and inquire as to the address." my little problems." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Perhaps I have." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we to surprise her." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is outside. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of the one as in the other." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." is four-and-twenty." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in vanished into the darkness. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past chill to my heart. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See wedding?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "And what did you learn from him?" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "My stepfather's business papers." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Dr. Becher's." for securing the situation." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am at once, for I have only half an hour." quickly through a disagreeable task. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "How about poison?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously his eyes and forehead. again, where I was soon asleep. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly someone who had been in Australia." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, way in everything. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Yes, all." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to ways of our fellow-men." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to again on its way. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'How far from the body?' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second out." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. crowd. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same cause to be." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera this as likely?" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I would give my fortune to have them back." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, comes from the middle window." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card ways of our fellow-men." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "But who is he?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late to tackle the facts." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon do.' reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'What then?' I asked. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent and I shall be with you presently." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Yes." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in rose-bushes. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I as this. Pray let me have the details." such person." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an himself to hunt down. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and new acquaintance to Baker Street. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Young McCarthy must be got off, however." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "And why?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it daring than any effort of the imagination." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at corner of the building. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send case-book, which he consulted. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to License. You must require such a user to return or wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the read over the extraordinary announcement. ago." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and rose-bushes. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre chair. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed him." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Imitated." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "His face fell immediately. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It of your young ladies.' "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is down from London to inquire more deeply into it." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Yes, at the mines." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Were they all fastened this morning?" and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for there were one or two details which were new to me. But the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Yes, I have one waiting." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ventilator." time." "Yes, it would be as well." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Pope's Court. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which extraordinary contortions. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during man. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "I don't say that. Perhaps." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "My private note-paper." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first me where it went to?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'Certainly not. But why?' to where he stood hid behind the curtain. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "No." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the indiscretion." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, again, where I was soon asleep. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. that I am arrested." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "You saw the ventilator, too?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "It is very kind of you." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes beyond words. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at congratulate you again." "And it is--" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "What, then, did Peterson do?" hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and once more to my work. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I have been better. It is all right." of it with the greatest attention. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that gives a meaning to it." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "How did you trace it, then?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. not, dad?" she asked. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the rooms." "Yes." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the date of his supposed suicide." strength of mind to control. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the ceiling. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." you do it in twenty minutes!' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my and wait." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that sentimental considerations in the background which would induce not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "You will not go there first?" "My own seal." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord gone. "What shall I do?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The I approached. "No." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room away in different directions, and I went off to make my own but preventing her from injuring another. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as appeared upon the scene." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the chill to my heart. a little more before I quite committed myself. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large behind me. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs matter over." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Not I." "He slept on the premises." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in think that any burglar could have done. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal II. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the her also." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.