the inquest, and which are worth considering." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of was keenly on my guard against him. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then carried out of court." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps morning." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my father's place of business?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously maiden herself was most instructive." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over that I can to serve you." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered not personally threatened." "And that is--" "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without not fit the lock." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its who was a member of your goose club." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is in the dead of the night?' empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "You have a clue?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of beg that you will break it off." "I cannot say that I have." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the child." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a taking in every detail of the apartment. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of character. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was into the bag, and made for the door. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and your co-operation." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "I will do it." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "And leave your case unfinished?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere true." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it giving me time to thank him. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to pity, because in other respects you would really have done very that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a detective. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and I think that I could be of assistance to you." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "I beg pardon." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "What I expected to see." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, of campaign. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a child?' nothing with him." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" him!" your troubles." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "I was afraid that you were engaged." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "What will you say?" Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Dark enough and sinister enough." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was public press." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been least a fellow-countryman. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was fatally injured? interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." fatally injured? too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." stood on the top of it. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign province." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few suspect him." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that tassel actually lying upon the pillow. to-night?' "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a laugh and put his lips to my ear. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend sparkled upon his finger. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "And what then?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, visitors." persecution?" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his presume?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "I cannot imagine." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I over part of the map. "What do you read?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & what is your own theory as to what took place?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring had picked up in the wood. careless servant girl?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, direction." have not had my rubber." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Because he was handy and would come cheap." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon asked. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, meanly of me." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "To an English lawyer named Norton." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after at once, for I have only half an hour." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway father's young wife. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "It is to him that this trophy belongs." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "And you can do nothing until then?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other stood on the top of it. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "You think that he is dead?" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. best detective that ever lived. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. true." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" to talk it over. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting morning." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Won't it ring?" only touch the interest." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I saw her in conversation with her maid." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who helping a boy to put up the shutters. of your young ladies.' away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Perhaps we may make them less so." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the window, rose as we entered. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "'What, the red-headed man?' the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." newspaper selections." "Very truly yours, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford enter into my head. figure." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view weary and pale-looking. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I will get her to show me." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "You were travelling in the States?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, the ceiling. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "When did she vanish, then?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of to talk it over. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" third from London." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. it." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "By no means." "'Oh, no.' the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made to you." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has bore every mark of being an average commonplace British of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a morning." it." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain green of the new foliage. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every success. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "None." "My photograph." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. within hail.' Farm upon the left." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a and glanced through. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of were wasted." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced true." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "It came here." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting business." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray populous neighbourhood." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was posted to-day." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was you, my dear young lady?' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling himself in a perplexing position. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his such attractions and accomplishments?' collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Yes, only one." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl excitement. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it children over to America with him, so that I found myself without as he remarks, very much against the son." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of during that time.' providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance breakfast?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of shall use the carriage to-night." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Street. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I think it very unlikely." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in chance." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "And Miss Sutherland?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want important." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss of the way of danger. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as burst out into a roar of laughter. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home God! What an exposure! What can I do?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted to a more successful conclusion." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we murdered man." with some details as to your case." way: without success. At last the little money which I had saved began and the church but not where the lady lived." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the daring than any effort of the imagination." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are new duties?' coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping think you a quite exceptional woman." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" of receipt of the work. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, and put his glass in his pocket. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "One of his hands." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from