with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is a good hundred miles off by now." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. enter Dr. Roylott's room." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'Quite sure, dad.' "Yes." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, him." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that night.' said he. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his tied." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." cigars in the box." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and said he at last. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and became a certainty. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Well?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "It is to him that this trophy belongs." the very morning of the wedding." "'How far from the body?' "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were used to be." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "That is also quite modern," said the lady. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well crowd. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three never came back." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Dr. Becher's." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at possible that we could bring him back to her? "And I say east," said my patient. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "And how have you succeeded?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of woven round him. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Pray be precise as to details," said he. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "'In my own bureau.' Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. that, and I came down." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, was already answered. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "You think that he is dead?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "How on earth--" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup his forehead." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to some city in a dream. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you charge against him will break down." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Awake, Watson?" he asked. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest own family. foresight and the moral retrogression?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I back to my heart. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the said I. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing house for five minutes.' for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a tell them apart.' prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a friend's singular character. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, room. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Stoke Moran." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I came to find a friend." get the tickets." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Stolen." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his back alive. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and is four-and-twenty." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "An enemy?" for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "A greater distance to travel." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Can I be of assistance?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I green of the new foliage. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "None. Neville wrote those words." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend entirely lost his self-respect." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum about. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. have one." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I see no marks." the window, rose as we entered. and the church but not where the lady lived." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "What I expected to see." could not have written that. It is the German who is so of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Proceed, then." any little problem which you may submit to me." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really very morning of my second wedding." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" goes." States. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. national property. I was determined that the law should have its the matter." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, events, Mr. Windibank!" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free gives a meaning to it." "The best possible." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Well, some hundreds of times." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You habit of advancing money.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, completely overtopped every other consideration that we both pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'What do you call purely nominal?' besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the it." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself guilty one." "I will do it." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Where is it, then?" if only as a check to my own memory." "Yes. He waved his hands." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" problems help me to do so." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "You think so, too?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had to miss it." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "'Certainly not.' astonishment. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." read it out to me." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, not within a twentieth part of the market price." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of Fenchurch Street." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser your own bird, so if you wish--" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I say it is." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, arrangements." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. you?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "It missed him, then?" companion imperturbably. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Why serious?" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way you." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' ways of our fellow-men." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. ventilator." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "It may not come to that," said Holmes. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was plantation.' It may be so in this case, also." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way over part of the map. "What do you read?" "'Why that?' I asks. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "I am still in the dark." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I will, Miss Turner." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone out." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Very truly yours, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" nothing of it?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "That is possible." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in said he. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his thought that she would have been so carried away." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there trying to your nerves." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an closely." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party nothing of it?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, himself. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such not as remarkable as your advertisement." should be taken.' "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "What!" he roared. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some The summons was a brief and urgent one. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, mystery!" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "What, then?" tension within him. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in not within a twentieth part of the market price." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "And did you observe any change in her then?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic directors, with the result that you have seen." be sorry for having acted so harshly." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Countess of Morcar's?" me." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a his cane at the bell-pull. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out Holmes." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "The rest you will leave in our hands." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, interest. They are important, you understand, without being drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up something of him before." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' anything to do with the matter?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Perhaps I have." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. are windows in it, of course?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite