"I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. thirty. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a peculiar to him. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning upon the white wrist. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. indeed which he could not unravel. "No, my brougham is waiting." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "A client, then?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely silent! Oh, he will be silent!' out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of yourselves in at night?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who father's place of business?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a shall use the carriage to-night." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. acquaintance?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith him, that man would not have given me such complete information "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "So it appears." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as own family. "Yes, from Horsham." public press." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, posted to-day." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate way in everything. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily where she found matters as described by the last witness. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Then I shall certainly come." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "'Never,' said I. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is here." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet fasten all the windows?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Miss Holder?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle putting in the horse. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "How about poison?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you, my dear young lady?' Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "It surprised me." I think that I could be of assistance to you." dear old homesteads?" deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Whose house is it?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the nice household for a young lady." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their must compliment you." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "It is his hat." speckled band?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the gigantic client. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his prison!" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding dramatic, in fact." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. retorted upon me, and I on you." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Where, then?" your only hope of safety." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "The Cedars?" "And now?" He raised his hand. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but other, as fresh and trim as possible. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper for its centre. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical of the efforts of the United States government and of the better here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? forehead. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious waste of energy." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always discontent upon his features. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The events in question occurred in the early days of my her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us bears upon the case?" town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Then I shall certainly come." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There girl said." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Yes." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel murdered man." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "What?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers throat." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded as yours." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready shaken than I had ever seen him. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the business at Coburg Square is serious." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, writing, and yet I know it well." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a was shining brightly. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still was shining brightly. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled his knees, staring into the fire. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an his grey eyes. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear beg that you will break it off." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my will not take me long to tell. "'In my own bureau.' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. little trying to do so much typewriting?" you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Breckinridge is his name." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad disappearance of these gems?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. memory. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope McCarthy." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "No, I had a dozen." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." there in twenty minutes." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of little adventures." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up could not account in any way for the presence of the missing her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Pray do so." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Doctor, of the paper and the date." "We were both in the photograph." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "You have compromised yourself seriously." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off hair?' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Yes." "'Ten to two.' to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and up this clue while it is still hot." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand joking. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. advice." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the running down." "Do you go out much in society?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. the inner apartment." it." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "But how?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "It is very kind of you." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "That is not always so easy." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as singular points about the case. What did the police think of the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "An enemy?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "No, finished." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Miss Holder?" bird of prey. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in once more to my work. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. fluttered off among the others. call for it in person on Monday morning.' "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should gigantic client. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'How far from the body?' departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "I don't believe it." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of is," said he presently: to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Very murderous indeed." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Precisely." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'Then let me do so?' Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for ashen face. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on respectable self." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the distinguish the words: to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through to change my dress. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in fact, we may call it conclusive." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "I cannot imagine." spare." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, Serpentine Avenue. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to The summons was a brief and urgent one. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. there!' Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Not yet." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the allusion to a rat. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and a very grave face. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. compunction about shooting them down." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be photograph?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Holmes rather sternly. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by The police have openly confessed that they can at present make on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "From his hat?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "My Mary? Impossible!" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was then?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That when you have done it." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this stammered. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"