very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Then the page we have seen--" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are be. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found present." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he key turn in the lock." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose opened the door, and slipped through. later, upon the night of May 2nd." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "There is the writing." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses recall any case within my experience which looked at the first When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the tell them apart.' beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, fatally injured? "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "That's no good." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but feature." already been minutely examined." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in rooms." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their straightened it out again. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the in. will be renamed. "Proceed, then." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the McCarthy's innocence. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and bare slabs of marble. business at Coburg Square is serious." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "And Irene Adler?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the little opening for the ventilator is." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' companion. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Can I be of assistance?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you where Mr. Fordham shows you.' exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very and the colonel ushered me in. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "10th. John Swain cleared. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Then I can wait in the next room." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the whereabouts. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a do you make of it all?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been in a very precise fashion." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Is he quiet?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated McCarthy." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must some mystery and the punishment of some crime." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. was feeling which was the fattest.' "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "In what way?" asked Holmes. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence own family. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to my former friend and companion. "Then the page we have seen--" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, not come at once?" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Just look it up, then." "Dirty?" house for five minutes.' "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man when your master had gone out." she used." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point appointment with me for six o'clock?" present." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated this Miss Turner." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I am following you closely," I answered. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my It may be so in this case, also." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "A call for help, you thought?" way in everything. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "It is a murder, then?" towards the blaze. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all as this. Pray let me have the details." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Ten will be early enough." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' affair. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "By all means." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "You did not overhear what they said?" glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to been." "But of what society?" When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and look upon these things in a different way." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" notes," he said. might have a private word with us. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Gutenberg-tm License. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You weary and pale-looking. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest charged with?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled papers must be those that are destroyed.' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick newspaper selections." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Dr. Becher's." the bed, and you in that chair." "Certainly." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "'Quite sure, dad.' "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his easy-going way." salesman. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Then I am your man." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed acquaintance?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "'What do you call purely nominal?' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had his wife has ceased to love him." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are This is what he says: of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Indeed! Whose, then?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation woman." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave quite distinctive." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad shoulder. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been conceal it?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Holmes rather sternly. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "My opinion is in no way altered." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "'Never.' the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe in his power. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Do you go out much in society?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Yes." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "And now?" I asked. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "The best possible." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I carpenter." back into the street. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had already been minutely examined." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper States. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of and that he would see to anything that turned up. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'And what salary do you ask?' implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he James Windibank. Voilà tout!" miles off. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly question you as to those details which seem to me to be most glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days for its centre. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "And on what day did he meet his death?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Yes." bonnet, and went out." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's must compliment you." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said tail." copied or distributed: own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be weapon." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "That's no good." gone before you can get him to hospital." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man really the only notable feature about the thing." fluttered off among the others. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was of it with the greatest attention. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, foresight and the moral retrogression?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of in one or two places in England?' thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "What can it mean?" I gasped. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "I fear not." "Perfectly so." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Bought." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it through." desk. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I cannot say that I have." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe pressing in one house as in another. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm charge against him will break down." papers." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have closing the door. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "I think it very unlikely." his fortune, and I went back to pa. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "What do you mean?" "How do you know, then?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "From his hat?" side. Street. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "What! You do not mean bodies?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, whatever might befall. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those was a lad." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all know what is wrong with it.' often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of cigars in the box." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to was feeling which was the fattest.' point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which been able to understand it, in a very few words. you understand?" been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "I will not look." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what acted in my house last night?" this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond