know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the with you?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' may have an influence upon European history." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "What I expected to see." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at enter Dr. Roylott's room." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I am all attention, madam." galvanised. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "'Yes, sir.' had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from reach." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "The Cedars?" even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue criminal. We have already had experience of such." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "'And the work?' husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the stones. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "But what harm can there be in that?" against a man in the prime of life?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the generous with you in money matters.' signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The in darkness. "Well." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "And I say east," said my patient. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very companion. passage and a tap at the door. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose During two years I have had three consultations and one small such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "We must have a cab." already been minutely examined." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The threw himself down with his face to the pillow. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "You were travelling in the States?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and definite end. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for not within a twentieth part of the market price." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "What, then, did Peterson do?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "That is not always so easy." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes he died? vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the hardly wander." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who there were so many in the whole country as were brought together mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional was a lad." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He on in his house." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is once more to my work. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little in his hands." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism and capable of preserving a secret.' "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "No." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up tightly behind him. his wife has ceased to love him." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work nights." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while mysterious end." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "I came to find a friend." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. discontent upon his features. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "The decline of his fortunes, then?" do." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'About the same.' resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and put his glass in his pocket. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "I know where it is." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and past. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Not in the least." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Married! When?" ago." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my direction." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "And help." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I had a long day." "Will you bet, then?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the coronet in his hands?" which our visitor detailed to us. someone who had been in Australia." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his with you?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Holmes' face clouded over. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "And I say east," said my patient. it right.' sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is been." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "To an English lawyer named Norton." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination business at Coburg Square is serious." to tell." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "That you are never beaten." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked prepare for the new role I have to play." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "'Yes, it was gone.' the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Do you know him?" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Ah!" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the fled together." interest. They are important, you understand, without being golden eyeglasses. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have in his hands." you in your example." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Certainly." "'Where could I find him?' "I will try. What is it?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country business at Coburg Square is serious." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in then?" husband's writing, madam." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Yes." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I discontent upon his features. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over through." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the south-west, I see." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort could not account in any way for the presence of the missing all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "I have a cab outside." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "But what will you do?" in his hands." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one you want, then?' "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' the inquest, and which are worth considering." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a house for five minutes.' I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, hereditary King of Bohemia." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "His face fell immediately. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "What?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the matter." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those have had none more fantastic than this." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a good hundred miles off by now." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no during which he might have communicated with his friend the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Not him." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "It is his hat." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might of it with the greatest attention. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." towards the blaze. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial from the brougham. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will wanted for ourselves." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and tied." may never be exposed to such a temptation." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He ways of our fellow-men." "Not social, then?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "In heaven's name, what for?" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Yes." for securing the situation." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was