hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it companion. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some I nodded to show that I had heard. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if secret." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear I shall continue with my miserable story. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very have got?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for she to prove their authenticity?" have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you she to prove their authenticity?" business at Coburg Square is serious." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would unkempt, staring out at me. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her keep the flames under. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Have you it here?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how a good hundred miles off by now." "'And the work?' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I warn you that they are very incomplete." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his presented which may be striking and bizarre without being the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' the very morning of the wedding." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "A greater distance to travel." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark him!" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed seen the man in the road." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed see a sister of mine apply for." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, to tackle the facts." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her reach." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was seem to you to be relevant or not." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I bird I ate is country bred." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, evidence," I remarked. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over reach." up this clue while it is still hot." public press." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I door?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "You are all wrong." "It is his hat." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." at home. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. closing the door. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "How did you trace it, then?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw him." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I shall be delighted." system of imprisonment?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of confronted him. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey served to weaken the effect. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "And why in hopes?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Have you good authority for what you say?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Nothing." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it I think that I could be of assistance to you." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away during that time.' I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. I have it here in my museum." character. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced is," said he presently: closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked indeed happy." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came shoulder. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine I nodded to show that I had heard. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "You horrify me." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding as the one I chose?' know what is wrong with it.' "You are hungry," I remarked. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of 1.E.9. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "So I am. Very much so." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That prepare for the new role I have to play." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, some terrible trap for her." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Surrey." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "No, I am descending." "None. Neville wrote those words." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with read it out to me." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. DAMAGE. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "What will you do, then?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were weighed down with some great anxiety. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an death." "None." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." indeed which he could not unravel. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in this poor creature." behind me. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" client, rising. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the discontent upon his features. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, of his shoulders. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "I do." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Well, it is a possible supposition." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Is he quiet?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Doctor, of the paper and the date." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he than to us. back alive. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he undoubtedly my uncle's." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the to tell." head. So long, then!" upon an income of about 60 pounds." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "This photograph!" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "By no means." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "How do you know, then?" We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Again Holmes raved in the air. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Farm upon the left." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary might have a private word with us. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered future lives." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "No sign of it?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only you for a few hours?" "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a wedding?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "None." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been of note-paper. It read in this fashion: black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He hard-headed British jury." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, unprecedented a position." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he there!' little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large she slowly sank and died without having recovered her present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and highroad, where all traces were lost. congratulate you again." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Pool. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Heh?' matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and must be when I saw the door open.' town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to would apply.' "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "What steps will you take?" I asked. closely." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John man. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" that you wished to speak to me?' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I fear not." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four tension within him. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the nursery. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an meant it for the best. "But not more so than I to find you." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid which it had come upon my father." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "You know me, then?" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your