strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself fattened it expressly for you.' make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." meant it for the best. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's relief. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. during which he might have communicated with his friend the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. photograph?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have manager. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, meanly of me." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the enter Dr. Roylott's room." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" reach." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been said I. "Then what has happened to him?" "I am still in the dark." again, where I was soon asleep. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. new duties?' and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "On the contrary, this is the right side." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I should like to see him very much." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "One of his hands." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced and the colonel ushered me in. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite might help us?" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been answer." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily dates and names. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Why serious?" threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after future lives." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "And how did he make his money?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how fattened it expressly for you.' was not a bird to be seen there. bare slabs of marble. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and neither fascinating nor artistic." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Breckinridge is his name." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely fattened it expressly for you.' the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept papers must be those that are destroyed.' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and affair. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the little opening for the ventilator is." the bottom.' chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put and it need not interfere very much with one's other glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and himself in a perplexing position. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the conduct the inquiry." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "What can you not understand?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." "The King of Scandinavia." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, nights." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "No, thank goodness, she did not." himself to hunt down. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At get her out of the way." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. answer." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place case-book, which he consulted. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little I nodded to show that I had heard. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I young Openshaw's." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." will he say when he returns?" prepare for the new role I have to play." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the inquest, and which are worth considering." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "His face fell immediately. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "I will not look." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning was keenly on my guard against him. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where examine." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would exactly what you advise." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, not within a twentieth part of the market price." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "No, I think that I'll take it." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their electronic works to have been novel and of interest." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Yes, it would be as well." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been way in." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' less than 26s. 4d. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a call for it in person on Monday morning.' so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the armchair which I pushed forward for him. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a cup of tea. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the lips." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Pray do so." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my and all of them with the keenest interest. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "You have carte blanche." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter thin legs towards the fire. redistribution. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." voice. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in conclusions. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other in one or two places in England?' refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Can I be of assistance?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "You heard nothing yourself last night?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it without a word or a look. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some visitors." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were coroner's jury." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith is four-and-twenty." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "But how will you look?" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Will you bet, then?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I to-morrow." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat looking up at the numbers of the houses." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Your sister is dead, then?" "But what will you do?" Henry Baker is a member." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Who was the criminal, then?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in records." for the market.' "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that you want, then?' with her." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you just ask you whether you had heard it.' McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all off." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Awake, Watson?" he asked. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Farm upon the left." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime too. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Literary Archive Foundation neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in she might be summoned. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look to tell." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where footfalls from the street. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a was feeling which was the fattest.' his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his something of him before." "And from a noble client?" seen the man in the road." "When did she vanish, then?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "I was sure that I might rely on you." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider habit of advancing money.' "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to unclasping of his long thin hands. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say a room. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless question. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "What do you mean?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "And what did you see?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "My last client of the sort was a king." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me use an arc-and-compass breastpin." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "How often?" her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "That also I could fathom." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." were new raised from a basin. emerged. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Texas, I think." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "By all means." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very to go into your room and bar your shutters?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right but preventing her from injuring another. "He is still with you, I presume?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you understand?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows I was concerned in it." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no any little problem which you may submit to me." there has been an enclosure here!" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Holmes." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these shall use the carriage to-night." past. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train your troubles." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the heavy and sharp instrument." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Edgeware Road. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us never to learn it at all." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "I should wish to." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little trifles." "'Yes, I promise.' from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Pray do so." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Why did you pick him?"