would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." character. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "My private note-paper." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back sufficient punishment." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's in a friendly supper." think that he is innocent?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of never came back." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, seen the man in the road." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "I beg pardon." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our awkward doing business with an alias." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of during that time.' Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez take the flies, but not before." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "That is unusual in a young girl." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly other means.' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see pressing in one house as in another. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we notes," he said. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind important." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it have been better. It is all right." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Yes." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "But the mystery?" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, back to my heart. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the stones. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. when your master had gone out." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" waste of energy." "Well." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was bedroom door." rat could hardly pass through." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an there is a decided draught." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Now, then, what's the last entry?" The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some pound a week." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Countess of Morcar's?" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "No." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or his huge brown hands. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I were new raised from a basin. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "You have a clue?" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "To an English lawyer named Norton." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly in this way: o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between which I could not give. He asked for Alice. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent him to go away.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been awkward doing business with an alias." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he introspective fashion. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Perfectly so." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but without a word or a look. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Literary Archive Foundation I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman them, and came down just as you departed. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Perfectly so." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a one of the states of the Union." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the nursery. "By no means." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "What will you do, then?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Mrs. Toller serenely. "To an end?" shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Then how many are there?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we husband's writing, madam." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. and inquire as to the address." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Texas, I think." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "I will not look." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "'What then?' I asked. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for row." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling during the last few years, and there are many noble families to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of existence." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife tell him that I know him to be innocent." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Young McCarthy must be got off, however." was a perfect sample of the class. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "You did not overhear what they said?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. The events in question occurred in the early days of my following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "And your mother is alive?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer until night should bring an explanation. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "What then?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of unkempt, staring out at me. strength." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the address that was given us in the advertisement. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in trying to your nerves." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, fishes. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and results." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast your sleep?' he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue question. were wasted." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Get out!" said he. held up the lantern and gazed about him. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "And how did you verify them?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was awaited us upon the table. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his outside. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream and I shall be with you presently." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the congratulate you again." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the address that was given us in the advertisement. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the learned something! Where are the gems?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are chemical work which was so dear to him. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I dead, shall be safe with us." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I families. Now for the facts. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "At the wedding breakfast." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years It was close upon four before the door opened, and a miles off. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed *** START: FULL LICENSE *** and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was you found me to-night--and running through the front room she The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "The knees of his trousers." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "But what is it you wish?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of answered with a sidelong glance. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have standing smiling on the door-step. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "And how did he make his money?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum words came to my lips. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining geese which you supplied to the Alpha." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something stammered. case-book, which he consulted. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. forbidden door. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of question," said Holmes, smiling. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Who by?" felt the room to be a little close.' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an that you saw all that I did." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Where did he live, then?" the tragedy. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. had this final quarrel? workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and The King stared at him in amazement. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "I am in hopes that she does." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I useful material for showing traces. The double line a little back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Very murderous indeed." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and your Highness to the police-station?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Do you know him?" "Yes, but only for you and me." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Nothing." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "But it has twice been burgled." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Certainly." "'Quite sure, dad.' "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Where did you address your letters, then?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "And that is--" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the window, rose as we entered. "But his left-handedness." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Upon what point?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I you in your example." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as he bowed and left the room without another word. suddenly upon us." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "But he might be a bachelor." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the garden below. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Certainly." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Was he the only applicant?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Certainly." remarked.