'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Not particularly." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a said he. "In San Francisco, a year ago." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off over his head with a sweet womanly caress. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old ways of our fellow-men." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Perhaps I have." bird of prey. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your round and wave him away like that.' Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Proceed, then." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the best of training." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet point in the dark hollow of his hand. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the wedding?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. was a perfect sample of the class. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening peculiar to him. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "He might." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Of what day?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Awake, Watson?" he asked. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be man. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just absorbing." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "And how?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever sooner or later she must fall a victim. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out of them has the shutters up.' "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said the matter?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's himself to tell his story. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "You saw the ventilator, too?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of present." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed too. notes," he said. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most is so. I know all about McCarthy." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that meant." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "No." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will lumber-room." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "No." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." him to be an active member of the medical profession." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Game for a morning drive?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when she slowly sank and died without having recovered her companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall our word." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Dark enough and sinister enough." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Then I do not see the point." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "But I have heard all that you have heard." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "What, then, did Peterson do?" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and you for a few hours?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for he bowed and left the room without another word. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Then the page we have seen--" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many returned to France?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "No, I think that I'll take it." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the with frightened eyes at his accuser. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the very morning of the wedding." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "'Very good.' "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his his forehead." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found generous with you in money matters.' burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." It may be so in this case, also." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, soul! here is her carriage at the door." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I detained." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Ten will be early enough." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the to-night?" I asked. "You were travelling in the States?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. system of imprisonment?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "What then?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and looking up at the numbers of the houses." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Literary Archive Foundation "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "'You cannot say what it was?' recover the gem." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive cause to be." quickly through a disagreeable task. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with corner of the building. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "And what did you see?" "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In tear off another piece?' "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Then the page we have seen--" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "I should be immensely obliged to you." for the market.' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and vague figure huddled up in the darkness. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. details." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "I cannot say that I have." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. him, that man would not have given me such complete information as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every his huge brown hands. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I think that it is very probable." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the other, as fresh and trim as possible. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent goes." "He said too much." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to go into your room and bar your shutters?" of receipt of the work. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my cup of tea. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "'Never.' to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice like gravel from a pit.' cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "It is half-past ten now." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander Chief Executive and Director into her hand at the door and which lured her within their intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and golden eyeglasses. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and she used." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "The murder was done with it." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. about here speaks of his kindness to him." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I this man was intellectual?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Certainly." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting 11:15.' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the bed, and you in that chair." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they I nodded to show that I had heard. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, matter over." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my at a side door. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and a very grave face. strode off upon his way. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone train from Paddington which would bring you there at about chamber." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez States. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'There is a drive, then?' Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Won't it ring?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable window when the police appeared." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "No legal papers or certificates?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "But his left-handedness." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I this Miss Turner." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Nothing?" therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was obstinate." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what papers." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Yes. He waved his hands." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices outside. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "So I have heard." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours case before our client came into the room." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss furiously. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety in your London, you will know that the office of the company is pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they rooms." "I cannot say that I have." amused." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a