profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which fled together." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of so.' Henry Baker is a member." there was no need for father to know." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not was it brought him the coronet? anything to do with the matter?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three retorted upon me, and I on you." Leadenhall Street--and--" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "My photograph." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the business." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, forecastle of an emigrant ship. night.' said he. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had away to you." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that meant it for the best. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "You think that he is dead?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and to affect your life." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque future lives." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Yes, he did." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "'As governess?' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I think that it is very probable." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Have you her photograph?" success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Was she in good spirits?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Yes, it was twisted." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this once more to my work. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "You think that he is dead?" he. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "That is not always so easy." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from respectable self." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "I would give my fortune to have them back." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of o'clock is it?" as noiselessly as she had come. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation in a friendly supper." fear." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and skylight. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but conclusions. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "When did it break out?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this remarked. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug bonnet, and went out." the room while you explain this matter?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "And what did you see?" of it with the greatest attention. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Imitated." long narrative. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my papers." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work crackling voice. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "But she will refuse." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she to-night's adventure." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not You can understand that this register and diary may implicate gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Precisely so. But how--" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, rat could hardly pass through." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "At half-wages, in fact." unprofitable." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk along the entire front of the house, with three long windows beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "You horrify me!" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Lee, in the county of Kent." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Clair, of Lee." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "No, I think that I'll take it." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for my friend's incisive reasoning. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I say that I have solved it." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "And how did he make his money?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the chair. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Then, as to money?" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural chamber." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies closely." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon confronted him. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Stolen." "What, then, did Peterson do?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it individual and becomes the badge of a society." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried is," said he presently: "That also I could fathom." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the night.' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Oh, the cause is excellent!" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I will do it." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Game for a morning drive?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must the coronet at all injured?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it investigation." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner you understand?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the address that was given us in the advertisement. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar was a lad." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Witness: I must still refuse. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I think that it is very probable." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "How did that help you?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Where to?" "It is half-past ten now." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our tail." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the you do it in twenty minutes!' friend's singular character. a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "She walked into the breakfast-room." business at Coburg Square is serious." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we come either from the window or the door. My attention was expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal for its centre. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Why serious?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had said he. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of me upon any point which I do not make clear." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Dirty?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make upon a handsome competence. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "That you are never beaten." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of child?' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, chambers. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting developed." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "In which, sir?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Perhaps I have." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner his face which made him a very different person to the round, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "So I have heard." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram over here." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were have not had my rubber." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "But you can know nothing of this?" easy-going way." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Did you become engaged then?" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Who by?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent to-night's adventure." "I cannot imagine." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. prisoner's face. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do me upon any point which I do not make clear." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "No." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with tail." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' man. "And why?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Then I shall certainly come." "Then what has happened to him?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Where did he live, then?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of your only hope of safety." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official back alive. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he hardly wander." "No, my brougham is waiting." girl said." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Yes." said Mr. Holder. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Yes." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she enter into my head. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew as he remarks, very much against the son." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "And help." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Ha! you find it so?" brandy and water within his reach. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have even of instruction." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no cigars in their mouths. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the matter." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Seven!" I answered. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her