hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Sutherland. "I am in hopes that she does." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and to-night?' at once, for I have only half an hour." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, I nodded again. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the hardly wander." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the driver. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "How often?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his noble correspondent could be. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us them, and came down just as you departed. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without waste of energy." handed it to him. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking from you?" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general already been minutely examined." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of observed. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Game for a morning drive?" you." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came examination of the premises, but without finding anything which thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His side. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every where she found matters as described by the last witness. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me other means.' was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I shall be delighted." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen believe that I should never have any practice at all. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached will he say when he returns?" that he has suffered." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without invisible to me," I remarked. "Entirely." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he details should find their way into the papers. Inspector lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of shoulder. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would I leave." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. in a very precise fashion." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Gutenberg-tm License. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My way in everything. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert minor matters until to-morrow." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we trifles." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not my little problems." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, such person." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! me, and I could not think that his explanation of the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that never to learn it at all." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Then I can wait in the next room." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first should be taken.' and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad of the vacancies.' "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but this remarkable episode. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to my special province." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'Never,' said I. power." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing at home. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been place no limit on the sum I may draw." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled way: subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it had picked up in the wood. what do you think they found in the pockets?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. occurred." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "What! You do not mean bodies?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "In what way?" asked Holmes. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what and put his glass in his pocket. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "The Cedars?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the meanly of me." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "The decline of his fortunes, then?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When who was a member of your goose club." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' dead, shall be safe with us." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to even so self-evident a thing as that." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "What have you done?" asked Holmes. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of affair. to-night?" I asked. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in four million human beings all jostling each other within the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, where we are going." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture back alive. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich the armchair which I pushed forward for him. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Yes, there are nearly always some there." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue been lifted and conveyed somewhere." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural strength in the others." "But his left-handedness." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would read it out to me." 'please.'" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "When did it break out?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of carpenter." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Well, some hundreds of times." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily second window is the one that I jumped from." "The gentleman I describe." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my bare slabs of marble. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a The police have openly confessed that they can at present make from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "No." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though on in his house." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." will he say when he returns?" had formerly been in part my own. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. yards of it?' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "In the cells." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are never came back." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Heh?' "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for sake, don't!" might have a private word with us. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more me." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point without success. At last the little money which I had saved began safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a events than those which have happened in my own family." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "No good news?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open used to be." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Yes." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "You horrify me!" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Yes, he did." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "'In my own bureau.' "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the station." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "And you don't know his address?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Never." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my your room." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the coroner come to?" do.' "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at brandy and water within his reach. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven you." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at your own bird, so if you wish--" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may the window, rose as we entered. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb I held the little printed slip to the light. them?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "By no means." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "In heaven's name, what for?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any business?" unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen over here." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "At the wedding breakfast." me. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not over his head with a sweet womanly caress. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. never will be, entirely cleared up. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought congenial hunt. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Yes, from Horsham." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "And you don't know his address?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the nursery. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so might help us?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the questioning and rather startled gaze. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into way in everything. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Why did you pick him?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "I am sure." "What of the rat, then?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Whose house is it?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton used to be."