Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "A client, then?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite have established a very serious case against the son of the you?' she has been waylaid. There has been no result." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "What?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." lamp in his hand. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She drawing your inferences." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "You will not go there first?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master of Mr. Rucastle's." "Not social, then?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly some water from a caraffe. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to humiliation." "What can you not understand?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. you." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I you do it in twenty minutes!' of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." III. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both system of imprisonment?" "But she could not love him." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. him. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in as yours." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon completely overtopped every other consideration that we both when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have that before taking the final step I should like to submit the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis just ask you whether you had heard it.' joking. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; bed dies. Does not that strike you?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of electronic works comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was cost them two and thirty pounds." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." that you saw all that I did." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich III. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was a very grave face. skylight. and I shall be with you presently." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Ah!" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "No legal papers or certificates?" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "It is his hat." disappearance of these gems?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I don't say that. Perhaps." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the coroner come to?" "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "And when will you call?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that correct than the official force." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "What!" he roared. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "What, then?" "But how did you gain them?" which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "I am still in the dark." "Thank you. And your address?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless directly by questioning you." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. it." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came morning." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that American. Then who could this American be, and why should he sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its felt the room to be a little close.' expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my to talk it over. "And why?" stepfather?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, that there was nothing in it, after all." "Absolutely?" It may be so in this case, also." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic without a word or a look. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to six. Come in!" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "The murder was done with it." had formerly been in part my own. "Very much so." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "No?" "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. come either from the window or the door. My attention was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on appeared upon the scene." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the appeared upon the scene." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "And that is--" there when the Rucastles went away." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, have had none more fantastic than this." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Certainly, madam." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" views." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring important." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Chief Executive and Director quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Ten will be early enough." at a side door. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "No legal papers or certificates?" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. here and I will read it to you: as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, it." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." gigantic client. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. hardly wander." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It minor matters until to-morrow." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Quite so." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." in this note: Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "'Where to?' speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we not use it unless it is absolutely needed." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would trying to your nerves." "You did not overhear what they said?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but opened the door, and slipped through. happened." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Yes." "And sit in the dark?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Yes?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "But he might be a bachelor." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" green of the new foliage. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to believe that I should never have any practice at all. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his next day. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary certainly do as you advise." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be would then never go into court at all." business came to an end." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at bedroom door." to take care of herself." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "No." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "The Coroner: What do you mean? to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "To an end?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "'Yes, sir.' plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "I see no marks." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in roused himself from his reverie. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "You know me, then?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "No, finished." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Holmes' thin, eager face. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the someone who had been in Australia." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my despair." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "What can it mean?" I gasped. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "Always." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "'Oh, no.' typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to 'I should be able to look after that for you.' quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy bearing upon the case." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is own family. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and corner of the building. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. tail." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "'Yes, I promise.' electronic works "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray think that any burglar could have done. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only breakfast." of the vacancies.' "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that humiliation." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the deduce something from that?" the inquest, and which are worth considering."