first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his bare slabs of marble. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Never." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the were wasted." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I will, Miss Turner." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's tightly behind him. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Her father is very rich?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else and I shall be with you presently." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something interested in these little problems, and since you are good rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, call for it in person on Monday morning.' which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend intimate personal affairs in this public manner." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you enter Dr. Roylott's room." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. my room." bearing upon the case." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "BALLARAT." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of very old mansion. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' all-comprehensive glances. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the suspect him." already referred to. this Miss Turner." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the iron safe, which he closed upon it. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this then?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the better grown goose." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Again Holmes raved in the air. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Deserted you?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "I do." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." leave you to your papers for a little." best detective that ever lived. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "When did she vanish, then?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "And what then?" "The doctor?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "But we can't all be." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at off." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "What then?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, once more for Briony Lodge. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "I beg pardon." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not future lives." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. lamp. you do it in twenty minutes!' conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. himself to tell his story. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "What! You do not mean bodies?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to questionable one." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. wedding?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Really! You surprise me." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat to some other building. throat." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the too. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "It looks newer than the other things?" stalked out of the room. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, tail." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Which are?" all-comprehensive glances. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the think that any burglar could have done. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers infinite languor in his face. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. discontent upon his features. few hundred pounds.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Then the page we have seen--" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the on re-entering her father's house?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the business came to an end." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock From what you have told me I think that it is possible that shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his lost nothing by them." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this beyond words. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from have had none more fantastic than this." to some other building. "No, I am descending." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the iron safe, which he closed upon it. in darkness. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "Nearly eleven." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "No more words. Get out!" "I see many objections to any such theory." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, chill to my heart. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "And for present expenses?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the joking. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I cannot tell." such person." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "That also I could fathom." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "But you have hopes?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the happened." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who assist you in forming an opinion." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that Holmes' face clouded over. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "That was it, sir." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "On Monday." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Why serious?" go from here to the Strand." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a business?" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his breakfast?" his knees, staring into the fire. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt You want to know what became of those geese?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "'Certainly not.' quite distinctive." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and for securing the situation." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that whole matter to your consideration." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Holmes. carried out of court." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to approach us with offers to donate. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was wall." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Heh?' reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside this unhappy family?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and fattened it expressly for you.' have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the is," said he presently: late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "I fear not." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "How on earth--" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had to affect your life." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "'And the work?' "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest silent! Oh, he will be silent!' impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated and inquire as to the address." not within a twentieth part of the market price." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf in a very precise fashion." cigars in the box." felt the room to be a little close.' "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very entirely lost his self-respect." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and copied or distributed: police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the derbies." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "It was." digesting their breakfasts at home." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by the stones. you." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Upon what point?" "Who was the criminal, then?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "I should wish to." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." come either from the window or the door. My attention was returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Pray do so." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Well, but China?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken nonsense.' a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get daring than any effort of the imagination." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "Seven!" I answered. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly chamber." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made digesting their breakfasts at home." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "What can you not understand?"