away to you." ready to-morrow?' assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could my former friend and companion. happened." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "The landlord of the Alpha." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Cross for the Continent." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Yes." gentleman's clothes. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "And did you observe any change in her then?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and with you alone." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If at home. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in obstinate." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "'About the same.' silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of with her." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "What have you to say now?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw think that any burglar could have done. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "My dear Holmes!" "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few with you?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the in a very precise fashion." Sholtos." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his country, and eventually married, without anyone having a attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off you." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "And now?" I asked. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Always." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. nothing of it?" though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Why, what do you mean?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "But his lameness?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Bought." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Can I be of assistance?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "'Quite sure, dad.' grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second see me here to avoid scandal." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "So I am. Very much so." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin nonsense.' bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you than was visible to me." "So I heard. You have him here?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "But she will refuse." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after skylight. allusion to a rat. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he our word." "I am following you closely," I answered. Again Holmes raved in the air. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Leadenhall Street--and--" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you this remarkable episode. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman seen the man in the road." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it province." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have was a lad." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may nights." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Perhaps I have." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Well." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either as this. Pray let me have the details." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "And Miss Sutherland?" man. I know him from the photograph." "Certainly." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built crime." vault. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "She told me to ask you." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless not, dad?" she asked. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. and it need not interfere very much with one's other boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There father's young wife. words came to my lips. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a like that before?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down happened." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "What then?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. carpenter." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "The rest you will leave in our hands." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a not use it unless it is absolutely needed." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "I will try. What is it?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "And for present expenses?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "But she will refuse." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I made his money." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is carpenter." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had kind enough to tell me what I should do." cigars in their mouths. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled giving me time to thank him. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Yes." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you is entirely a question of barometric pressure." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, business matters.' than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "9th. McCauley cleared. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. your Highness to the police-station?" one else, I think." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing It may be so in this case, also." your sleep?' "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" said he. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of be there in time for your coming." "It surprised me." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His that he will be back before evening." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my be sorry for having acted so harshly." conclusions. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue important." three fields round his house, and there he would take his promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are where she found matters as described by the last witness. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock photograph?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the light and attacked it." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a was shining brightly. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "You don't mind breaking the law?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke shoulder; "he's all right." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "It is solved." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was manager. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "'I am sure if I had known--' "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "No, I had a dozen." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" business in the City. She little knew what. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for fasten all the windows?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. congenial hunt. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Watson," he said cordially. crowd. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net served to weaken the effect. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the so-precious time, but come!' "You heard nothing yourself last night?" secret." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were putting in the horse. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does villagers almost as much as their master. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "None. Neville wrote those words." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress bears upon the case?" already been minutely examined." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A gone before you can get him to hospital." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It behind me. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in DISSOLVED. "That is unusual in a young girl." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "And you thought he was pulled back?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him strode off upon his way. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Two days later this same performance was gone through under client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a legal crime." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "It is true that I have been generally successful." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "To ruin me." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my the side-table." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Never." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. there is a decided draught." all that?" "Where is it, then?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." his wife has ceased to love him." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of happened." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in cause to be." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Then how many are there?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little ourselves in the office." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will mystery may be cleared along those lines." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "He disappeared so suddenly." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey her also." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with You want to know what became of those geese?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal more terrible than the truth. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Could he throw no light?" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that the tragedy. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I have hopes." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your have been better. It is all right." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about London for the present?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, there is a decided draught." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in read over the extraordinary announcement. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "By no means." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked that threaten you." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "No." so.' lamp in his hand. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer guilty one." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my information in his hands the value of which he did not himself the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'Why that?' I asks. how narrow had been my escape. "I will get her to show me." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place