in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was points in connection with it which never have been, and probably been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship security.' must be when I saw the door open.' "I will try. What is it?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not one else, I think." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Why, it's a dummy," said he. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, passage and a tap at the door. "Was she in good spirits?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, at a side door. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there whole matter to your consideration." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Of Friday, June 19th." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Perfectly so." them?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "But who is he?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a a suggestive one." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend in one or two places in England?' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door true." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly delighted to hear it," he said. "Then I can wait in the next room." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "We must have a cab." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely might have a private word with us. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given *** START: FULL LICENSE *** feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the official police." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "On your arm?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which back into the street. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. relief. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I will try. What is it?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "That you are never beaten." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in would apply.' "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held have I gained?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." several quiet little villages up there." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Why, what do you mean?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the plantation.' years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it there were one or two details which were new to me. But the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in closely." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the breakfast?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Yes, that is the Crown." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Nothing." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it time." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Countess of Morcar's?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, in this note: "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I shall continue with my miserable story. "No." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback go from here to the Strand." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Have you it here?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he said I. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "'And what salary do you ask?' fact, we may call it conclusive." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I cannot think." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "And how have you succeeded?" comes from the middle window." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Not social, then?" go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "How did you trace it, then?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three fact, we may call it conclusive." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our pressing in one house as in another. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "How did he come?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were will he say when he returns?" Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been some mystery and the punishment of some crime." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was to affect your life." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, the station." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "You have a clue?" the night.' he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Stolen, then." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Precisely so. But how--" fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Was she in good spirits?" past. "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his crime. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the of the way of danger. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I will get her to show me." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your extraordinary contortions. "You have the photograph?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "A call for help, you thought?" highly," said Holmes. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest other, as fresh and trim as possible. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of lost his Christmas dinner." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a detective. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an she to prove their authenticity?" Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every lost nothing by them." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you excitement. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian swore that no one else had been in the front room during the everything which you would wish to know." "A client, then?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project depend upon my doing so.' "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "The doctor?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "My dear Holmes!" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Really! You surprise me." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with will take you up to see the machine.' them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "So I am. Very much so." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Mrs. Toller serenely. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'Is 4 pounds a week.' King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she yet." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was acted in my house last night?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are village inn over there?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the stones. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." see a sister of mine apply for." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "And help." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." yourselves in at night?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water you for a few hours?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a peculiar to him. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "How often?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "It was." the one as in the other." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "When did she vanish, then?" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from problems help me to do so." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was once more. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not some place of shelter and let the county police know what has again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and until night should bring an explanation. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon desk. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered front of me. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the business came to an end." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying presume?" must compliment you." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I sparkled upon his finger. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. my friend's incisive reasoning. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I beg pardon." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "And your father? Did you tell him?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "But she will refuse." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when carriage. It was a chestnut." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both discontent upon his features. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to his cane at the bell-pull. upon an income of about 60 pounds." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. highly," said Holmes. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "And now?" I asked. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "What then?" "No, I had a dozen." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend easy-going way." "What is it, then--a fire?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle be.' blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Texas, I think." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, sparkled upon his finger. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "My dear Holmes!" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of him!" "Why did you beat the pavement?" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar meanly of me." way in everything. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Do you know him?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to gone. "And from a noble client?" "Precisely." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, towards the blaze. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, round with crates and massive boxes. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. constraint." "Then I am your man." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. out." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out.