"'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof chair. events, Mr. Windibank!" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "When did it break out?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the works. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no IS de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "How did he come?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' round with crates and massive boxes. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged States. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should will be renamed. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Stolen, then." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." to-night's adventure." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving of the way of danger. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "We were both in the photograph." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a it with his own hands." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case be best to do. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "That is it on the dressing-table." "And now?" He raised his hand. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "At half-wages, in fact." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "I beg pardon." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Edgeware Road. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Where did you address your letters, then?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of that you can jump it.' strong and stiff." "What can it mean?" I gasped. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." man. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Where is it, then?" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. strength." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between strength in the others." mystery may be cleared along those lines." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "But we can't all be." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his and have this put in the evening papers." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Literary Archive Foundation snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "It goes to the housekeeper's room." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "How can you tell that?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had easy-going way." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between lost his Christmas dinner." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. chance." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there light and attacked it." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I back alive. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands married her." delirious. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Quite so." minor matters until to-morrow." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, row." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I business in the City. She little knew what. he. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is to-night?" I asked. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "No." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to your bag." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I some terrible trap for her." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work showing my impatience. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "How can you tell that?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be gbnewby@pglaf.org "'There is a drive, then?' Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a occupations.' Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with power." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes unkempt, staring out at me. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and that I am arrested." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum with frightened eyes at his accuser. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight brought there to personate someone, and the real person is The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Not in a good cause." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will bed dies. Does not that strike you?" this poor creature." neither fascinating nor artistic." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed do.' "Yes, it would be as well." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." in the hope of finding them." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "She will not sell." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" kindly on the shoulder. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we opportunities to fix the problem. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the appeared upon the scene." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Surrey." "Her father is very rich?" long narrative. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." few hundred pounds.' the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making electronic works "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a matters immensely." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise ourselves in the office." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Precisely so. But how--" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his from the brougham. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it would apply.' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe to-night?' with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he night.' said he. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit lumber-room." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly particular state visit http://pglaf.org cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Have you it here?" and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "'You cannot say what it was?' "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you ready to-morrow?' But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or gone before you can get him to hospital." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "They are typewritten," I remarked. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. business matters.' "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, them present such singular features as the strange train of head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Breckinridge is his name." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." had this final quarrel? first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my bonnet, and went out." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "But she could not love him." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and this truth that in these little records of our cases which you minor matters until to-morrow." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the be there in time for your coming." second window is the one that I jumped from." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." been deceived." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "And how did he make his money?" is four-and-twenty." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, back alive. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "I was mad--insane." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Then the page we have seen--" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Where, then?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a of a light. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "It goes to the housekeeper's room." outside." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "And the murderer?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the Red-headed League." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "A greater distance to travel." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our bell. Holmes whistled. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "It goes to the housekeeper's room." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and put his glass in his pocket. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we soul! here is her carriage at the door." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself unprecedented a position." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I guessed as much." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a matters immensely." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in which was all perfectly true. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for easy-going way." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Farm upon the left." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the coronet at all injured?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it strong and stiff." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can for its centre. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my are, I think, all that we need." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest your troubles." window when the police appeared." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, strong reason behind." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that