the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "It is a murder, then?" signal between you and your father? Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and memory. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" in this way: have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his quite distinctive." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." cause to be." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came bedroom door." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up you." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly in his hands." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "I was mad--insane." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Absolutely none." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "You think that he is dead?" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." galvanised. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' back to my heart. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," becomes even more simple." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of light and attacked it." photograph?" "One of his hands." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Bought." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "What, then, did Peterson do?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "And how did he make his money?" locked. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving passage and a tap at the door. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be outsides of the windows. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. companion. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right woman." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Perfectly so." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Yes, it was twisted." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his seem to you to be relevant or not." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY congenial hunt. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, derbies." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the felt?" served to weaken the effect. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A other, as fresh and trim as possible. bears upon the case?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "In heaven's name, what for?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Yes." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see over with notes and figures. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the at my own good fortune. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray may have an influence upon European history." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "And how did you find out?" waste of energy." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much the iron safe, which he closed upon it. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "What are they?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Mrs. Toller serenely. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and in this note: place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to society." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the eat it." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Yes." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent astonishment. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his four million human beings all jostling each other within the the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I if only as a check to my own memory." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the ventilator." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too conclusions. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your disappearance of these gems?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, that he will be back before evening." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'Stolen!' he cried. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "And how have you succeeded?" to surprise her." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "My private note-paper." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of appeal." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. asked with his eyes open. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole orange pips. "You saw the ventilator, too?" his forehead." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Heh?' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. and the whole place is in a blaze." straighten it?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our who was a member of your goose club." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his gives a meaning to it." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, observed. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." there in twenty minutes." national property. I was determined that the law should have its other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, with her." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me into the bag, and made for the door. met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast dear old homesteads?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "At the wedding breakfast." my little problems." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it situation." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy get the tickets." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. written, and locked the door of the office after me. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Then, how do you know?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down do.' threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and few hundred pounds.' was a loud and authoritative tap. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east suddenly upon us." have accepted such a situation. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently call you and give you the chance." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the of the way of danger. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "My Mary? Impossible!" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Then I do not see the point." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Now, then, what's the last entry?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Where, then?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "You were travelling in the States?" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I know where it is." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then taking in every detail of the apartment. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." side. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." out." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a politicians who had been sent down from the North. populous neighbourhood." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and the colonel ushered me in. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. approach us with offers to donate. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Surrey." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this row." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Dirty?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "'And the work?' Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made tightly behind him. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and matters immensely." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Munro.' photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' hour?' thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! there was no need for father to know." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Did you observe the colour?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good meanly of me." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was residence of the great financier. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the and I shall be with you presently." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness would apply.' it. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most events, Mr. Windibank!" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." His smile broadened. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less confronted him. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some rooms." to some other building. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which it." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I from the brougham. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled papers diligently of late, have you not?" his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the asked with his eyes open. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he ashen face. "And did you observe any change in her then?" Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you room. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your go from here to the Strand." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I this poor creature." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a