"In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly States. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a off." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from and the whole place is in a blaze." roused himself from his reverie. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, The telegram which we eventually received came late one night At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had name is different." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, roused himself from his reverie. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "I cannot imagine." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he arms and began to sob in a high treble key. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had throat." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three prove to be little relation between the different incidents of man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "'How far from the body?' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery The King stared at him in amazement. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, indeed happy." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "You forget that I know nothing about it." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, go--none." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I will get her to show me." fact, we may call it conclusive." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "None." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird been deceived." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a writing, and yet I know it well." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "You think so, too?" "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little have not had my rubber." "I assure you that I am in your hands." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "None." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my 11:15.' Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. we went to search for him, face downward in a little incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and voice. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed clanging. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." ashen face. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Pray do so." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER morning." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I don't say that. Perhaps." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "But I am all in the dark." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell bell. Holmes whistled. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right been able to understand it, in a very few words. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up it." "How many? I don't know." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "What?" found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "I was sure that I might rely on you." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a I nodded again. like that before?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I despaired of." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "What office?" "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "It is possible." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "'Quite sure, dad.' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would in his hands." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "By train from Waterloo." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Did your wife hear all this?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it cigar and let me expound." hand, madam?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and and looked back. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it think that any burglar could have done. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was again on its way. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. views." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and me, and I could not think that his explanation of the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' "And now?" He raised his hand. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Yes." question. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand through." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Why did you beat the pavement?" brandy and water within his reach. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "You horrify me." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, interests were the same as his." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not before the coroner and the police-court." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money know what is wrong with it.' "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "What shall I do?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both to you." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. were wasted." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I don't say that. Perhaps." been deceived." was shining brightly. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'As governess?' Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "How do you know, then?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its ordinary clothes on?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences ways of our fellow-men." matter over." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural hour." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "What of the rat, then?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted mystery!" persecution?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the is four-and-twenty." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Perhaps we may make them less so." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to she might be summoned. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "We have tried and failed." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your maiden herself was most instructive." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door already been minutely examined." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" call you and give you the chance." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was congratulate you again." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "The rest you will leave in our hands." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and capable of preserving a secret.' had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I already been minutely examined." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. out." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that weapon." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I have seen the police." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A trifles." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling made him keep the appointment." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. so far?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "No sign of it?" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Eh? What was that?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings grasp, he hurried from the room. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the Assizes." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his despaired of." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have in his hands." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "You think that he is dead?" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "And I say east," said my patient. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." you?" "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue invisible to me," I remarked. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever me where it went to?" "I am in hopes that she does." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it quickly through a disagreeable task. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "To ruin me." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush writer." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "My photograph." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have your co-operation." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." look upon these things in a different way." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them ceremony." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Come in!" said he. future lives." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he himself to tell his story. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually disappearance of these gems?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." spark where all is dark to me." hand, madam?" suggested at once that there must be a communication between the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the