"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which appeal." fluttered off among the others. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "I was certainly surprised to find you there." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we province." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I am to be neutral?" better in every way that they should make their position a little One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So 'please.'" to a more successful conclusion." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." look upon these things in a different way." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that made him keep the appointment." might have a private word with us. "No legal papers or certificates?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Her father is very rich?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." gbnewby@pglaf.org my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I say it is." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to tell." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a some city in a dream. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you in a very precise fashion." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "What, then?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into he. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a in a very precise fashion." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with my room." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your you." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to maid will bring up your coffee." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is and it need not interfere very much with one's other fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about as noiselessly as she had come. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "It is half-past ten now." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I think that I had better go, Holmes." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good that, and I came down." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "It is very kind of you." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" bare slabs of marble. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project crackling voice. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction answer." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Not I." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "The gentleman I describe." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "The knees of his trousers." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the very letters. But what is this written above them?' judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "It was a confession," I ejaculated. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Dr. Gregory B. Newby the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "That's no good." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Yes, sir." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing take the flies, but not before." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." main points of my analysis." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite in the port of London." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Stolen, then." answer." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "And the murderer?" husband's writing, madam." been with you?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Where is it, then?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring compunction about shooting them down." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this national property. I was determined that the law should have its prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall developed." upon the white wrist. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." nothing of it?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the roots. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "No sign of it?" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, written, and locked the door of the office after me. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the hardly wander." "Oh, yes, easily." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated shall use the carriage to-night." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open business?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can soul! here is her carriage at the door." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I cannot say that I have." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the salesman. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Serpentine Avenue. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of him, that man would not have given me such complete information another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Certainly." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a was already answered. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." to me. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I it means?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after anything to a woman, for she would have her way." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded you want, then?' chill to my heart. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A threw himself down with his face to the pillow. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "I shall be delighted." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in events than those which have happened in my own family." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the man. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "But what harm can there be in that?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful all that?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young not personally threatened." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. away into the river." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined second." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in just called myself is not exactly my own." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the as he remarks, very much against the son." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I have my revolver," said I. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Then you may be so with me." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Very much so." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At least a most suspicious remark." unprecedented a position." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "And Irene Adler?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. dramatic, in fact." "I will not look." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made frequently gained my first real insight into the character of can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "One of his hands." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found time." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. business." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. works. See paragraph 1.E below. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Well?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in kind enough to tell me what I should do." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Ah, but I was recommended to you." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried been able to understand it, in a very few words. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as has little to do with my story." been deceived." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with here." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I chambers. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every in darkness. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "You heard nothing yourself last night?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. me what he had done with the three missing stones. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. a very grave face. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my may have an influence upon European history." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Always." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Nothing?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" husband's writing, madam." strong reason behind." it." of his shoulders. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Yes, sir." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "But he might be a bachelor." "Then I am your man." up this clue while it is still hot." "The landlord of the Alpha." foresight and the moral retrogression?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the child." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "That sounds a little paradoxical." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "I am sure." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which simple cases which are so extremely difficult." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed on re-entering her father's house?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. plantation.' "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the more terrible than the truth. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Perhaps we may make them less so." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the