sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered behind me. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but were unconscious?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to disappearance of these gems?" "Yes, that is the Crown." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in looking up at the numbers of the houses." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the directly by questioning you." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man read it out to me." the roots. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "No, thank goodness, she did not." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "You horrify me." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland at a side door. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to it." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took helping a boy to put up the shutters. during that time.' any." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the from the brougham. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through and laid it on the table. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I am still in the dark." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "No." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of photograph?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Farm upon the left." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we humiliation." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a recover the gem." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and my special province." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the will be renamed. "Absolutely none." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and becomes even more simple." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, papers." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant matter." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But four million human beings all jostling each other within the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "How did you deduce the select?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "Pray let us have it, for all that." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of do.' "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not the so-precious time, but come!' to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" License. You must require such a user to return or "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." letters?" to affect your life." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "No, finished." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you remarked. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Here?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, you." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, window when the police appeared." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." best detective that ever lived. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have village inn over there?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity of Mr. Rucastle's." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too your billet.' sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "It came here." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "'And what are they worth?' I asked. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "What will you say?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and hour." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. there when the Rucastles went away." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "I see many objections to any such theory." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you unkempt, staring out at me. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My direction." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the matter?" "To an end?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "VIOLET HUNTER." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than hard-headed British jury." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with than to us. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to not as remarkable as your advertisement." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little present strange and interesting features that it is no easy shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Precisely." "Will you go?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "To an end?" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my off." "No." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from as noiselessly as she had come. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and habit of advancing money.' "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" coat-tails." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. salesman. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Pray let us have it, for all that." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "And you don't know his address?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, retorted upon me, and I on you." tell them apart.' bird of prey. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Pray be precise as to details," said he. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My most interesting one." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So already referred to. name is different." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "To the police?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do said he. "And is that all?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might photograph a cabinet?" into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes, it would be as well." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love invisible to me," I remarked. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." jewels which you have stolen?' that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I mysterious business." "I have hopes." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "The knees of his trousers." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" like that before?" bedroom door." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, in my life." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Witness: It was. "But not more so than I to find you." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his excitement. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two not within a twentieth part of the market price." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf Holmes' face clouded over. "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, more terrible than the truth. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the was lame." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Very. But will he see it?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "None." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There very morning of my second wedding." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had him!" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, suspect him." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the girl said." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey with some details as to your case." "'Oh, no.' also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest closing the door. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. that threaten you." the address that was given us in the advertisement. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the