"No?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary have accepted such a situation. went to the Alpha were town bred." I think that I could be of assistance to you." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do of." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my gone. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Really! You surprise me." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End locked. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming foresight and the moral retrogression?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King crackling voice. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, father's place of business?" returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Holmes." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work peculiar to him. forehead. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" gone before you can get him to hospital." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He good for you to do.' animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, take the flies, but not before." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account o'clock is it?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no that threaten you." confronted him. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of might have a private word with us. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away go from here to the Strand." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right them present such singular features as the strange train of from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." business at Coburg Square is serious." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply one which it was hard to resist. "It was." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Yes." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little the Friday. Was it to be in church?" elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in way in." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my despair." himself in a perplexing position. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. important." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you you?' who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "His face fell immediately. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Do you go out much in society?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a to-night?' the morning and make my own way in the world.' this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a desk. had picked up in the wood. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his notes," he said. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment important." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I was sure that I might rely on you." highly," said Holmes. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the stable lane now." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the as yours." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Yes, all." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and been with you?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted sofa. This way, please!" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Watson," he said cordially. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "On Monday." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "And how in the world did you find them?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Nearly eleven." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of o'clock is it?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of was once confined in the cab my mission was practically this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious problems help me to do so." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in it? Did I buy the geese off you?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "I cannot as yet see any connection." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "But to whom?" face and glided from the room. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Why? What do you mean?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "And how?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "And why in hopes?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching hardly wander." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Tired-looking or fresh?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her were wasted." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated young Openshaw's." questioning and rather startled gaze. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies have been better. It is all right." "Yes." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "What is it, then--a fire?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil chill to my heart. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Not in a good cause." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the do you make of it all?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the there was no need for father to know." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps in your London, you will know that the office of the company is really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Nothing?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. she might be summoned. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "And why?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hand, madam?" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "No, but the enclosure is." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we better in every way that they should make their position a little give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "What do you mean?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Yes, the wine-cellar." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "The gentleman I describe." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have business matters.' "And is that all?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "He is dead," cried several voices. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "No good news?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the are, I think, all that we need." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to had died away into the silence from which it rose. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage nonsense.' conceal it?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "'There is a drive, then?' "Then I do not see the point." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "How many? I don't know." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Henry Baker is a member." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Project Gutenberg-tm works. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see You want to know what became of those geese?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Arthur Conan Doyle that I may have something better before very many minutes are impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "But your client--" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Gutenberg-tm License. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I was mad--insane." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency matter." "What office?" purpose equally well?" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out bed dies. Does not that strike you?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another in this note: he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been narrative." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been easy-going way." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is crime." But Holmes shook his head gravely. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." this remarkable episode. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should some water from a caraffe. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a a little more before I quite committed myself. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line read over the extraordinary announcement. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "He disappeared so suddenly." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible wedding?" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Arthur Conan Doyle that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it ran thus: applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "You forget that I know nothing about it." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. he bowed and left the room without another word. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from simple cases which are so extremely difficult." answer." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, woman." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was a lad." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' like gravel from a pit.' slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Not I." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a