weapon." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as in his power. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Chief Executive and Director at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss wanted for ourselves." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., there has been an enclosure here!" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the look upon these things in a different way." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, hour." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which From what you have told me I think that it is possible that companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "But how will you look?" of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after I leave." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that remarked. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, certainly not very gracious." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his business in the City. She little knew what. "'What then?' I asked. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Never to return." foresight and the moral retrogression?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable companion quietly. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, as noiselessly as she had come. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you coroner's jury." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but formed some opinion?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent you." here and I will read it to you: understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing this truth that in these little records of our cases which you as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Witness: Nothing definite. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "And sit in the dark?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us distinguish the words: though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the have not had my rubber." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire crime." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well allusion to a rat. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as ordinary clothes on?" "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez outside. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "I know where it is." to-morrow." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held point our research must commence, and we will begin it by fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she whatever might befall. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." forebodings. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Did your wife hear all this?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Eyford at 11:15.' "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "BALLARAT." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Pray let us have it, for all that." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was just ask you whether you had heard it.' "What do you mean?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a conduct the inquiry." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "We were both in the photograph." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and lost his Christmas dinner." "What then?" anything to do with the matter?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a respectable self." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you with her." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. dramatic, in fact." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "I have my revolver," said I. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the conclusions. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. to take care of herself." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual since then to throw any light upon what became of him." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, learned something! Where are the gems?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "'Yes, it was gone.' At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other that I may have something better before very many minutes are bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them how narrow had been my escape. "That you are never beaten." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have in this note: this Miss Turner." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master he died? dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was him." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of fine shops and stately business premises that they really fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Perhaps we may make them less so." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "I do." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Have you good authority for what you say?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same notes," he said. "Yes, certainly." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "What, then?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Murdered?" certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Yes." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of not, dad?" she asked. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Tired-looking or fresh?" business in the City. She little knew what. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a words came to my lips. "I will, Miss Turner." lamp. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and business." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "No, I had a dozen." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen visitors." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and British peeress.'" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Certainly." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think was shining brightly. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of during the last few years, and there are many noble families to this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "'Certainly not. But why?' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" and the whole place is in a blaze." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "What!" he roared. "Then, how do you know?" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Frequently." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her all?" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Could he throw no light?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present him and tried to hold him back. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are was shining brightly. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I was mad--insane." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "And how did you find out?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You chance." cause to be." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front to tell." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled of." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his little trying to do so much typewriting?" how narrow had been my escape. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have some terrible trap for her." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Game for a morning drive?" "Where, indeed?" "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp a monotonous occupation." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "I would pay ten." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a to some other building. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. not within a twentieth part of the market price." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "None." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us shaken than I had ever seen him. "We were both in the photograph." lumber-room." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a interests were the same as his." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was and all of them with the keenest interest. certainly not very gracious." speckled band?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall yourselves in at night?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before derbies." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished them present such singular features as the strange train of think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Was she in good spirits?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your province." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the with her." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, newspaper selections." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "And from a noble client?" mysterious business." "Yes." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "But how?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place undoubtedly my uncle's." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Will you bet, then?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have showing my impatience. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I