lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing may never be exposed to such a temptation." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after someone who had been in Australia." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call must be when I saw the door open.' "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late bore every mark of being an average commonplace British endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of there were one or two details which were new to me. But the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he anything to do with the matter?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You some mystery and the punishment of some crime." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, you for a few hours?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the iron safe, which he closed upon it. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the very morning of the wedding." ways of our fellow-men." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by system of imprisonment?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'A dozen yards or so.' layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's was a loud and authoritative tap. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in to have been novel and of interest." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the father's place of business?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. leave you to your papers for a little." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a had this final quarrel? autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure overpowering excitement and concern. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would to-night?' a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'What are you doing there?' he asked. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "'I am sure if I had known--' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you directly by questioning you." "I will not look." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'Stolen!' he cried. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a to affect your life." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Did you observe the colour?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, generous with you in money matters.' have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a go back?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be your own bird, so if you wish--" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head notes," he said. danger is over." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "So I heard. You have him here?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of said Mr. Holder. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "It was an hour's good drive." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Yes." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "'Quite sure, dad.' was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's voice. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "An accident, I presume?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss entirely lost his self-respect." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "No." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy maiden herself was most instructive." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to locked. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the visitors." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for stepfather?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her hereditary King of Bohemia." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "At the wedding breakfast." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert whatever might befall. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I lectures into a series of tales." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining the Assizes." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler are windows in it, of course?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was fashion which was peculiar to him. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to-night?" I asked. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of depend upon your compliance." "In which, sir?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Upon what point?" all that?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "It must be recovered." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "The landlord of the Alpha." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. at home. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "In which, sir?" made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Pope's Court, Fleet Street." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about passage and a tap at the door. Watson," he said cordially. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is me, and I could not think that his explanation of the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw acted in my house last night?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "'Is 4 pounds a week.' great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn down from London to inquire more deeply into it." remarked. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have gone. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my examine." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I promise," said Holmes. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning speckled band?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was I shall communicate with you." the King without delay." "'Oh, no.' sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "A confidential servant?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There father's young wife. disappearance of these gems?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Ten will be early enough." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Of what day?" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. closing the door. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "My own seal." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made that he has suffered." time." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "But she will refuse." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "'I shall certainly be there.' "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the driver. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." nights." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Thank you. And your address?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant the very letters. But what is this written above them?' he bowed and left the room without another word. "Ha! you find it so?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous some terrible trap for her." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own a little more before I quite committed myself. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been weary and pale-looking. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "I am still in the dark." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table sparkled upon his finger. to surprise her." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "No, I had a dozen." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and laid it on the table. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Of what day?" all-comprehensive glances. was it brought him the coronet? in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "What of the rat, then?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I warn you that they are very incomplete." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that door?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. him. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a situation." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. straighten it?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Your French gold?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel was not a bird to be seen there. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Watson," he said cordially. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat very morning of my second wedding." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "What!" he roared. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give lost nothing by them." stepfather?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done again." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. floor. leaning back in his chair. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the at a side door. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Holmes. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" sofa. This way, please!" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Look there!" said he. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" least a fellow-countryman. "One of his hands." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, in this way: whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "That you are never beaten." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even recall any case within my experience which looked at the first in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it night.' said he. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "My own seal." tell me that you intended to go into harness." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with Sutherland. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, the inner apartment." "But I am all in the dark." fluttered off among the others. question. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would which we had just quitted. third from London." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his carried out of court." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than sneer upon his pale face. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress assist you in forming an opinion." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to