impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." was not a bird to be seen there. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in already referred to. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood envelope. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining him to go away.' near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' recall any case within my experience which looked at the first yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and help us in this matter." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I guessed as much." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Holmes, the busybody!" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "That is easily got." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at to arrive at through this?" the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of His name is Francis Prosper." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the II. IS "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they floor. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided cause to be." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very have established a very serious case against the son of the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. again, where I was soon asleep. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the coat-tails." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "So it appears." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and been." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty asked with his eyes open. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to if I call to-morrow?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "But I am all in the dark." "What! You do not mean bodies?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two companion imperturbably. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "He slept on the premises." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "My last client of the sort was a king." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Then I shall certainly come." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was he. is acting for the best. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over opened the door, and slipped through. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "How did that help you?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried his knees, staring into the fire. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "He disappeared so suddenly." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "And what did you learn from him?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Ah!" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the devil!" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? walking." it means?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were over with notes and figures. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "I shall be delighted." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "On the contrary, this is the right side." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which some water from a caraffe. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the morning and make my own way in the world.' dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, neither fascinating nor artistic." "I am in hopes that she does." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of It may be so in this case, also." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of pity, because in other respects you would really have done very tightly behind him. all that?" work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "In San Francisco, a year ago." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the not fit the lock." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from might help us?" "If so, much may have happened between." eavesdroppers?' "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood not, dad?" she asked. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to room. rooms." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat 11:15.' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Have you good authority for what you say?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we face and glided from the room. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind gentleman's clothes. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Certainly." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "But how will you look?" gone before you can get him to hospital." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I was mad--insane." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. for the market.' and capable of preserving a secret.' his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "It is possible." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Then the page we have seen--" it. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "'It is locked up,' I answered. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in looking up at the numbers of the houses." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "'Ample.' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce distinguish the words: weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "None. Neville wrote those words." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "That was it, sir." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I know where it is." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace him to be an active member of the medical profession." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under 'I should be able to look after that for you.' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a to some other building. depend upon my doing so.' orange pips. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "That is it on the dressing-table." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "One of his hands." wedding?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa in the dead of the night?' "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" said I. room?" business." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "At the wedding breakfast." go back?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll charge against him will break down." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "But not more so than I to find you." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the bonnet, and went out." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Sutherland?" coat-tails." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason a little more before I quite committed myself. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, ourselves in the office." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind mysterious business." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent girl said." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "In heaven's name, what for?" "Was she in good spirits?" "No. What a strange idea!" "Nearly eleven." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the occurred." second." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" that I am arrested." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, room. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should begin with, and I had not got mine yet." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "'Yes, it was gone.' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a even of instruction." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He chemical work which was so dear to him. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know in darkness. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face But Holmes shook his head gravely. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced delirious. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "How did he come?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Countess of Morcar's?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and most interesting one." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "No, but the enclosure is." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the to have that photograph." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we thin legs towards the fire. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "By train from Waterloo." My friend smiled. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Get out!" said he. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased comes from the middle window." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "And I to find an enemy." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, outside. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother