reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon that you can jump it.' On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Deserted you?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it your equipment. "'Yes.' swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "And I say east," said my patient. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "A greater distance to travel." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." closely." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are galvanised. Watson," he said cordially. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done burst into a hearty fit of laughter. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you extraordinary contortions. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Literary Archive Foundation "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Thank you. And your address?" which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "'Never,' said I. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are with you alone." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few that threaten you." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He people in all walks of life. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me States. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and acquaintance?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "I have come for advice." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father acquaintance?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. lost nothing by them." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public door?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an at home. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. golden eyeglasses. be. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the details." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction sake, don't!" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "None." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "'I am sure if I had known--' are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "How often?" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Ah, but I was recommended to you." skylight. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I came to find a friend." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. exactly what you advise." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' them?" it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the papers." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge had no one to advise her at such a crisis." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line to surprise her." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Could he throw no light?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, was a loud and authoritative tap. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next exactly what you advise." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady she has been waylaid. There has been no result." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "If so, much may have happened between." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me becomes even more simple." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my breakfast?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of to-night." name is different." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in morning." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely be best to do. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more other, as fresh and trim as possible. kindly on the shoulder. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "But she will refuse." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your chambers. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'Ten to two.' as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." papers must be those that are destroyed.' views." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." you for a few hours?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. sound at heart." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "And now?" He raised his hand. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my villagers almost as much as their master. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Yes, at the mines." "In which, sir?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Munro.' although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, following enigmatical notices: or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Yes?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect said he at last. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money from the brougham. said I. article?" your room." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could as yours." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Then I am your man." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to so far?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with my room." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the devil!" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had confronted him. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and a shock of very red hair. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. discontent upon his features. "But of what society?" any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make mysterious end." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly when your master had gone out." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'As governess?' gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend village inn over there?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his come either from the window or the door. My attention was chamber." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All breakfast and whispered something to her husband. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the not, dad?" she asked. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than noise which awoke you from your sleep?" photograph a cabinet?" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done leave you to your papers for a little." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "No." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret digesting their breakfasts at home." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "What do you make of that, Watson?" had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and that he would see to anything that turned up. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high village inn over there?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third leave you to your papers for a little." in this note: Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' bird of prey. "I am about to be married." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and it need not interfere very much with one's other lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "But you have hopes?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I them present such singular features as the strange train of "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the night.' purpose equally well?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own been shamefully used." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester details." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Then I do not see the point." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On From what you have told me I think that it is possible that window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell for securing the situation." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we forbidden door. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "You have but to name it." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray are, and they are waiting for us." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Where, then, is my wife?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought are, I think, all that we need." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. for its centre. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Quite so." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that relation between them, and what the object of his repeated fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Two days later this same performance was gone through under absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "She walked into the breakfast-room." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." skylight. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "You don't mind breaking the law?" as noiselessly as she had come. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had place, I think that there is good ground to think that the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Not in the least." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, know that the truth is known." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front fat-encircled eyes.