felt?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never roused himself from his reverie. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Yes. He waved his hands." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have awaited us upon the table. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "In heaven's name, what for?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the again on its way. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of case before our client came into the room." "What of the rat, then?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little must be when I saw the door open.' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." crowd. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for instincts rose up against that laugh. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "By train from Waterloo." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had sound at heart." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was in. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of tension within him. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to once more. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's companion. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "He said that you could solve anything." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, thirty. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden cigars in the box." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "This photograph!" congenial hunt. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual money should be paid at once.' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle are, I think, all that we need." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building could gather together that I was able to avert another public you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, three fields round his house, and there he would take his James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock and all of them with the keenest interest. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike few hundred pounds.' chill to my heart. second window is the one that I jumped from." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to confronted him. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Only as much as we can deduce." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered good-night and bustled off upon her way. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "My photograph." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "What have you to say now?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "What are they?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Watson," he said cordially. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he cost them two and thirty pounds." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do that, and I came down." "Very much so." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite late!' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where forebodings. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as golden eyeglasses. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. flock.' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "You will not go there first?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "And how did he make his money?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Here?" "Nothing?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'Quite sure, dad.' of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Then I am your man." call you and give you the chance." opened the door, and slipped through. "I should like to see him very much." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he the window, rose as we entered. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you indeed happy." have I gained?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be sake, don't!" "Did your wife hear all this?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among that you wished to speak to me?' where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of that there was nothing in it, after all." opened the door, and slipped through. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "'No, I know no one in these parts.' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now legal crime." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he all?" set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "You have compromised yourself seriously." there has been an enclosure here!" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike speckled band?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or heavy and sharp instrument." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees over part of the map. "What do you read?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "My photograph." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made go--none." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "'Is 4 pounds a week.' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa in his hands." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Clair, of Lee." see a sister of mine apply for." charged with?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will quite distinctive." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, past. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. appeal." there was no need for father to know." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally a good hundred miles off by now." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and bled considerably." "How did you trace it, then?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every quite distinctive." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double You can understand that this register and diary may implicate had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon You can understand that this register and diary may implicate matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is the side-table." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few question. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Again Holmes raved in the air. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." upon the sideboard." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever away to you." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "What then?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." passage and a tap at the door. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I details." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, open." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it searched, without anything being found which could incriminate panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and of." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a lost nothing by them." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. was used.' which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Yes, it was twisted." "An accident, I presume?" "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" written, and locked the door of the office after me. second window is the one that I jumped from." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "And why in hopes?" depend upon my doing so.' lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the chemical work which was so dear to him. interest. They are important, you understand, without being evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "What then?" time." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at future lives." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' best detective that ever lived. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, but preventing her from injuring another. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love furiously. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and unprecedented a position." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Did he not advertise?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven she used." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all My friend smiled. matter over." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' me upon any point which I do not make clear." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "'Very good.' met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "There is the writing." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this occurred." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself go--none." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I nothing of it?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a his forehead." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and forehead. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me be best to do. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to astonishment. to have been novel and of interest." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my tail." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his past. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. crime. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, own family. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had