opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little since then to throw any light upon what became of him." of a light. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Nothing." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "It missed him, then?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she advice." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, rat could hardly pass through." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin colour had been driven from his face. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and my little problems." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up address. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to interested in these little problems, and since you are good companion quietly. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "A call for help, you thought?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "What then?" that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully room. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the coroner come to?" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her leaning back in his chair. it." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "And I." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Dr. Becher's." future lives." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." has little to do with my story." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a unprecedented a position." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was a lad." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. to you." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "9th. McCauley cleared. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Very murderous indeed." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a village inn over there?" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a on in his house." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that my friend's incisive reasoning. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil been lifted and conveyed somewhere." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your together. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Was the window open?" Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we derbies." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Yes." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Does that suggest anything?" met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his where she found matters as described by the last witness. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that character. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "She will not sell." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could at a side door. congratulate you again." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "And your mother is alive?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a then?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be despaired of." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for furiously. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking which we had just quitted. foot. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "It is solved." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "But how did you gain them?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the you in yours." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his God! What an exposure! What can I do?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "And is that all?" the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and details." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "ARAT," I read. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and where she found matters as described by the last witness. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "How did you trace it, then?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but come either from the window or the door. My attention was McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the driver. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "His face fell immediately. "What will you do, then?" "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in look dissatisfied." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she cause to be." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had long narrative. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "10th. John Swain cleared. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were awaited us upon the table. My friend smiled. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after distance from the station, and there we found the young lady but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet What do you deduce from it?" "No?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "You horrify me." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" drawing your inferences." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts acted in my house last night?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "A greater distance to travel." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," useful material for showing traces. The double line a little which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the manager. "I don't say that. Perhaps." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "I think it very unlikely." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me his face. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the roots. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some together. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "And you can do nothing until then?" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his would apply.' edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic take the flies, but not before." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Yes, sir." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Witness: Nothing definite. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the learned something! Where are the gems?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the date of his supposed suicide." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Certainly." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. official police." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." standing smiling on the door-step. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "No." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did events than those which have happened in my own family." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning the little opening for the ventilator is." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at straightened it out again. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "'Then let me do so?' "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An me have 200 pounds?' present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'Yes, it was gone.' "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' the Assizes." I held the little printed slip to the light. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own dramatic, in fact." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Come in!" said he. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "About a month then." "No, my brougham is waiting." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "'How far from the body?' street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the in the dead of the night?' results." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "None." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his gentleman's clothes. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for experiences." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope the one as in the other." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, acquaintance?" these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "I have solved it." strong and stiff." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his photograph?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "No bad?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Ten will be early enough." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "That's no good." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless coroner's jury." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a business came to an end." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." nice household for a young lady." "What, then?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire have an American origin." him and tried to hold him back. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked The events in question occurred in the early days of my reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some second window is the one that I jumped from." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Seven!" I answered. such person." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "It is solved." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands crackling voice. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Nearly eleven." in the port of London." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no forebodings. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I will not look." "'Ample.' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the tapping his fingers upon the table. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and all of them with the keenest interest. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words became a certainty. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of least a most suspicious remark." IS