"I promise," said Holmes. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "No bad?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "What is it, then--a fire?" "But I am all in the dark." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'Never,' said I. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "And from a noble client?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and she used." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could know what is wrong with it.' Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "But how could you guess what the motive was?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, notes," he said. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his pierced for earrings?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my young Openshaw's." chamber." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a one of the states of the Union." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "At the wedding breakfast." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "In San Francisco, a year ago." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Never to return." for its centre. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Then, how do you know?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "It came here." to Leatherhead. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Heh?' heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your is worth.' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which of." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Why, what do you mean?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." important." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'Which dealer's?' "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler against a man in the prime of life?" fact, we may call it conclusive." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could morning." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," such attractions and accomplishments?' "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, skylight. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "You have the photograph?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "You heard nothing yourself last night?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, footfalls from the street. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "May I see it?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "He disappeared so suddenly." security.' cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" prove to be little relation between the different incidents of long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Street. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with in your London, you will know that the office of the company is listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." other lovers by making love himself." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "It is his hat." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'Which dealer's?' The King stared at him in amazement. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. at home. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "You saw the ventilator, too?" but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On fluttered off among the others. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he house for five minutes.' "Stoke Moran?" said he. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third my secret was safe in his possession. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a this as likely?" "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become hour?' It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for read over the extraordinary announcement. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'I have already given you my word.' "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. be best to do. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your gigantic client. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after place of silver." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." spare." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to really the only notable feature about the thing." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Ah, but I was recommended to you." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that of Mr. Rucastle's." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of exactly what you advise." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer who was a member of your goose club." me have 200 pounds?' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of overpowering excitement and concern. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Nothing?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Look there!" said he. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "No, I had a dozen." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the stable lane now." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to wedding?" electronic works thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Deserted you?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, fuss that is made over them." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been if I call to-morrow?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Who was the criminal, then?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would ventilator." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of possible that we could bring him back to her? benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation shall use the carriage to-night." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "You have a clue?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' hour." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up said I. is acting for the best. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but lips." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in one which it was hard to resist. the best of training." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the not as remarkable as your advertisement." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this DISSOLVED. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a confronted him. "And is that all?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the fatally injured? Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate article?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small instituted." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her then?" in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the of his shoulders. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "It is half-past ten now." "Precisely." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "I answered that I had not. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Why did you beat the pavement?" note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "By train from Waterloo." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from of campaign. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I am sure." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "What is it, then--a fire?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, neither fascinating nor artistic." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to cigar and let me expound." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it would apply.' higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in yet." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. carpenter." the room while you explain this matter?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "'In my own bureau.' "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "But who is he?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal the dangers which encompass me." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the King without delay." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Eyford." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in my life." weighed down with some great anxiety. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the room?" if only as a check to my own memory." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "And is that all?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His fish-monger and a tide-waiter." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "And from a noble client?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am nice household for a young lady." who was a member of your goose club." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "'How far from the body?' cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as knowledge of the world." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for Cross for the Continent." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." intrusion of other matters." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "No. What a strange idea!" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come passage and a tap at the door. strength." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Will you bet, then?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking