from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the papers must be those that are destroyed.' charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." to arrive at through this?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his directors, with the result that you have seen." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "But to whom?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from past. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said it right.' villagers almost as much as their master. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to chair. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "But his lameness?" will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of about. it." instincts rose up against that laugh. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "I am following you closely," I answered. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, companion quietly. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions call it cruel." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "'Certainly,' I answered. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "From his hat?" "What!" he roared. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." which are rolled in Rotterdam." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant instincts rose up against that laugh. "'Certainly,' I answered. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw individual and becomes the badge of a society." prepare for the new role I have to play." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for will take you up to see the machine.' three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have the bed, and you in that chair." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally of fine shops and stately business premises that they really himself in a perplexing position. situation." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any hardly wander." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "That also I could fathom." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Very murderous indeed." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and begin with, and I had not got mine yet." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case coroner's jury." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and to tell." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Only as much as we can deduce." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." fasten all the windows?" served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "A thing like a cleaver," said he. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard characteristics, but those are the more obvious." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush had died away into the silence from which it rose. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of signal between you and your father? all-comprehensive glances. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the whatever might befall. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "A client, then?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate was used.' "Did you become engaged then?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Yes, only one." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my mystery may be cleared along those lines." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the best of training." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The good-night and bustled off upon her way. crime. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect to that open window." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better details should find their way into the papers. Inspector was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" newspaper selections." invisible to me," I remarked. and I shall be with you presently." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "I do." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns father's place of business?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "But he might be a bachelor." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "To an end?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after his knees, staring into the fire. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "'Ten to two.' There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to suspect him." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "And how?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "No more words. Get out!" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Leadenhall Street--and--" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before for the market.' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "So I am. Very much so." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my page at http://pglaf.org "It must be recovered." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "That was it, sir." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "You are hungry," I remarked. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "No, distinctly professional." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of conceal it?" and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "But what is it you wish?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my province." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as returning from some small jollification and was making his way "No more words. Get out!" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a what do you think they found in the pockets?" ashen face. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions Gutenberg-tm License. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, detained." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." you?' "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible even of instruction." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "On the contrary, this is the right side." see a sister of mine apply for." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "No, distinctly professional." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It brought there to personate someone, and the real person is seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger ways including including checks, online payments and credit card upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this formed some opinion?" bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Yes." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, arms and began to sob in a high treble key. that you wished to speak to me?' and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry man. "But how did you gain them?" showing my impatience. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to such person." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. once more. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of stalked out of the room. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, bedroom door." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations to have that photograph." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be business?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he You want to know what became of those geese?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just some water from a caraffe. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Where, then, is my wife?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a cost them two and thirty pounds." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Very truly yours, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Of Friday, June 19th." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with to-night?' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your himself to tell his story. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. 1.F. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "No, I am descending." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened into the room. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the which we had just quitted. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." in this way: Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Perhaps we may make them less so." or in danger--" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Holmes. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable I am not easy in my mind about them." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far way: something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens disappearance of these gems?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. Sutherland. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water is a common subject for conversation. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., father's young wife. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make know all about it," he snarled. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an his knees, staring into the fire. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what people in all walks of life. at my remark. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "No bad?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Absolutely none." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the look upon these things in a different way." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "What, then?" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; suddenly upon us." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Murdered?" "Entirely." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." call the police, let the police find what they can.' and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "You know me, then?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight be sorry for having acted so harshly." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have public press." the little opening for the ventilator is." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, is acting for the best. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is