"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the inquest, and which are worth considering." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic really the only notable feature about the thing." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "It is very clear." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his danger is over." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Have you her photograph?" "Come in!" said Holmes. door?" given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "She showed me, as I told you she would." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman where we are going." "'Why that?' I asks. retorted upon me, and I on you." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done closely." you?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! public press." beg that you will break it off." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in it means?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I was a lad." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "No more words. Get out!" believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I see many objections to any such theory." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and a shock of very red hair. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given was used.' bled considerably." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Thank you. Pray proceed." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "He said that you could solve anything." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I shall most certainly do so." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his London for the present?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be possible that we could bring him back to her? particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "An accident, I presume?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. her also." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the coronet in his hand?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Miss Holder?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, excitement. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Then I can wait in the next room." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of of it with the greatest attention. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "But we can't all be." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when words came to my lips. shoulder. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "'And the work?' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night will he say when he returns?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the nights." "And is that all?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted delirious. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "I am all attention, madam." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my this man was intellectual?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he from the brougham. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the matter over." said I. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with chambers. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he is four-and-twenty." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." overpowering excitement and concern. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of companion quietly. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," were unconscious?" it." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "And from a noble client?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy him. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have my little problems." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united I held the little printed slip to the light. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be It was close upon four before the door opened, and a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Project Gutenberg-tm works. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Have you good authority for what you say?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in business." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, think that he is innocent?" following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had becomes even more simple." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a not come at once?" floor. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Precisely." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Where did he live, then?" started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Indeed! Whose, then?" "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin time." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had drawing your inferences." note?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Dirty?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of presented more singular features than that which was associated We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some prisoner's face. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Yes, that is the Crown." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I see no marks." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Yes, only one." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I cannot tell." "You forget that I know nothing about it." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me things are very often connected not with the larger but with the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and shoulder. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his whereabouts. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were I shall communicate with you." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "And I to find an enemy." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in again before evening." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder crime." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any suspect him." "Very murderous indeed." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came call for protection in the marriage market, for the present room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he was lame." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "But his lameness?" putting in the horse. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Yes, but only for you and me." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and you?' "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I upon the white wrist. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Who was the criminal, then?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of do.' "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "What?" outbreak?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his your equipment. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress exactly what you advise." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "She told me to ask you." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "What do you make of that, Watson?" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "I was sure that I might rely on you." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the father's young wife. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "But you were on a friendly footing?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: rooms." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me peculiar to him. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Well?" went to the Alpha were town bred." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind the very morning of the wedding." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as because she had spent so short a time in this country that she do.' "'Yes, it was gone.' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while the general public were present, then?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "'Ten to two.' family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle IS gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone to surprise her." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been occurred." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the have got?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one eavesdroppers?' if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Nearly eleven." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. in one or two places in England?' "Then you may be so with me." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked acted in my house last night?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the locked." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "No. What a strange idea!" I was concerned in it." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker his face which made him a very different person to the round, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." past. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Can I be of assistance?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and glanced through. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really system of imprisonment?" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. make me his representative both with the servants and with the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "I cannot imagine." "'Quite sure, dad.' even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a clanging. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Did you observe the colour?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the room while you explain this matter?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Yes." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "And help."