have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before joking. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I beg pardon." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "But his left-handedness." "And I say east," said my patient. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, main points of my analysis." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one shaken than I had ever seen him. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working arms and began to sob in a high treble key. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was them?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that late!' young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "She told me to ask you." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I and effective." delighted to hear it," he said. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I cannot tell." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "I should be immensely obliged to you." question," said Holmes, smiling. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Mrs. Toller serenely. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to away into the river." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Did your wife hear all this?" "I am sure." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. at a side door. have got?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "And how in the world did you find them?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even and put his glass in his pocket. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "The rest you will leave in our hands." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. figure." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping you." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Was your sister dressed?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "To an end?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us the side-table." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of McCarthy's innocence. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, dear old homesteads?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power to have been novel and of interest." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can developed." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently signal between you and your father? Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of skylight. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "But of what society?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very said he, "my real name is James Ryder." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting business came to an end." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Yes?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it which it had come upon my father." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Really! You surprise me." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to chemical work which was so dear to him. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to is a common subject for conversation. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to away in different directions, and I went off to make my own thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without the devil!" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "What have you to say now?" drawing your inferences." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to may have an influence upon European history." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. will be renamed. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Can I be of assistance?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution lamp in his hand. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and II. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. important." spare." acted in my house last night?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Ten will be early enough." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "And Irene Adler?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. to have that photograph." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had sneer upon his pale face. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round joking. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "But of what society?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I have solved it." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "What! a murderous attack?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Who by?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he only touch the interest." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly room had already been engaged for us. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I cannot imagine." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against brain must have something in it." "An accident, I presume?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the coroner come to?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the key of the affair now." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "He slept on the premises." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Then what has happened to him?" the driver. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him sufficient punishment." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door where she found matters as described by the last witness. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Yes. He waved his hands." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" would then never go into court at all." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and would then never go into court at all." mystery." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Was she in good spirits?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." was shining brightly. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very might have a private word with us. nothing with him." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "No bad?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was I leave." time." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Then what has happened to him?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "My dear Holmes!" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I think it very unlikely." get the tickets." arrested. You then--" photograph?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Your sister is dead, then?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "And the murderer?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "Ha! you find it so?" matter." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. place no limit on the sum I may draw." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all correct than the official force." "Yes." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, had picked up in the wood. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Sutherland. matter over." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This acted in my house last night?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be which was all perfectly true. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "'I am sure if I had known--' Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "It is very kind of you." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was swore that no one else had been in the front room during the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." politicians who had been sent down from the North. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "'Yes, sir.' walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as What do you deduce from it?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were me where it went to?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the row." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "My photograph." me. You must get home instantly and act." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall London for the present?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Oh, fresh and glossy." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Yes?" Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly man. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down good for you to do.' The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. to a light-house. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "'Then let me do so?' pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Oh, the cause is excellent!" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Yes." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Then you may entirely rely on me." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will breakfast?" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Very well, sir. And this stone?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such have not had my rubber." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "It certainly sounds feasible." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what get her out of the way." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend hour." dates and names. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "We have tried and failed." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I The telegram which we eventually received came late one night but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange gentleman's clothes. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom papers on the sundial.'" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I have a cab outside." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon lectures into a series of tales." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright,