the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, already referred to. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "One of the highest in England." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old companion quietly. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'Certainly,' I answered. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Holmes, the busybody!" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I pictures, libraries, or plate. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was I took the paper from him and read as follows: your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. I am not easy in my mind about them." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that cup of tea. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "You are certainly joking, Holmes." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'Stolen!' he cried. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was gigantic client. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and fuss that is made over them." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged my room." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked into her hand at the door and which lured her within their my secret was safe in his possession. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could is now desirous of getting those letters back." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean or in danger--" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money investigation." confronted him. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come but preventing her from injuring another. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for before the coroner and the police-court." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for anything to a woman, for she would have her way." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the three fields round his house, and there he would take his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet bonnet, and went out." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." these bleak autumnal evenings." straighten it?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "It is possible." away into the river." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his trying to your nerves." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a yourselves in at night?" terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked tell them apart.' flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I cigar and let me expound." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very carpenter." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the directors, with the result that you have seen." beyond words. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable just ask you whether you had heard it.' see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case sneer upon his pale face. front of me. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an just called myself is not exactly my own." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for room. matter." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Yes, only one." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical weary and pale-looking. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. if I call to-morrow?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "What steps will you take?" I asked. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Thank you. Pray proceed." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had over part of the map. "What do you read?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Stoke Moran?" said he. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the outsides of the windows. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the over with notes and figures. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "From his hat?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears must be when I saw the door open.' "It is true that I have been generally successful." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and laid it on the table. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch without a word or a look. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort which our visitor detailed to us. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found man. I know him from the photograph." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, morning." this man was intellectual?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and be best to do. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that his cane at the bell-pull. crime." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. time." better grown goose." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect forehead. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "How often?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have chance at all." "What can you not understand?" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the mystery may be cleared along those lines." Mary, has deserted me." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "'And the work?' rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the in this way: cause to be." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from one else, I think." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the inner apartment." the devil!" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which quick march!" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he happened." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face astonishment. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very forbidden door. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "And on what day did he meet his death?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe It may be so in this case, also." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Could he throw no light?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "You don't mind breaking the law?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon unprofitable." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper events, Mr. Windibank!" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of light and attacked it." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do know all about it," he snarled. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or she to prove their authenticity?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in all that?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush with you?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin your most interesting statement." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "My own seal." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if least a most suspicious remark." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he be there in time for your coming." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "And your father? Did you tell him?" them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "What I expected to see." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "And help." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "I cannot tell." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Yes?" back into the street. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt disappearance of these gems?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for photograph?" "I don't believe it." "Where, then, is my wife?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Yes." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have throat." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she may have an influence upon European history." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on which it had come upon my father." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "And I say east," said my patient. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "It is solved." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to question. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no fire. You quite follow me?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with his fortune, and I went back to pa. coroner's jury." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "The landlord of the Alpha." brandy and water within his reach. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "And you thought he was pulled back?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "I think that it is very probable." the coronet in his hands?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his death." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. to surprise her." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have your billet.' window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "And it is--" society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; been shamefully used." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that carriage. It was a chestnut." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Game for a morning drive?" permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to out of this horrible affair." she used." within hail.' very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. appeal." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to companion imperturbably. "Entirely." drawing your inferences." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has made his money." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Yes." she might be summoned. meant it for the best. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "'And the work?' were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." affection." the window, rose as we entered. do.' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the