main points of my analysis." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. these bleak autumnal evenings." "It came here." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "And how in the world did you find them?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Perfectly so." closely." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the never came back." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the me." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the only touch the interest." crime." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "BALLARAT." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Ample." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he me." unprecedented a position." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'Which dealer's?' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the up this clue while it is still hot." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith it means?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "That sounds a little paradoxical." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another companion imperturbably. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly main points of my analysis." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Deserted you?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he to me. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." strode off upon his way. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "'You doubt its value?' he asked. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "'Yes, I promise.' most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this bill, which interests me deeply." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "And that is--" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, to have been novel and of interest." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King business?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy taking in every detail of the apartment. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round light and attacked it." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "No sign of it?" "If so, much may have happened between." "By no means." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the coronet in his hands?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," perplexity from it to my illustrious client. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Certainly." Holmes' thin, eager face. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." of Fenchurch Street." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You shoulder; "he's all right." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the know that the truth is known." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "I never have." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and people in all walks of life. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I soul! here is her carriage at the door." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day fat-encircled eyes. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her anything to do with the matter?" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If digesting their breakfasts at home." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "The Cedars?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is memory. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not society." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I papers must be those that are destroyed.' the inner apartment." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Yes, from Horsham." shall use the carriage to-night." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in there is a decided draught." little trying to do so much typewriting?" floor. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources so.' people in all walks of life. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest you for a few hours?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's himself in a perplexing position. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this key turn in the lock." "Do you know him?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I should wish to." one which it was hard to resist. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which society." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I my friend's incisive reasoning. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Then he might have called to you?" "Perhaps I have." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "'Where to?' It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists been shamefully used." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "And that is--" fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment presented which may be striking and bizarre without being just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs digesting their breakfasts at home." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a DISSOLVED. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." me what he had done with the three missing stones. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed quickly through a disagreeable task. "VIOLET HUNTER." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do which are rolled in Rotterdam." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of so far?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private characteristics, but those are the more obvious." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face have been better. It is all right." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "On Monday." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Holmes. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival Pope's Court. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had extraordinary contortions. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Was there a secret marriage?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Yes." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss bell. Holmes whistled. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and depend upon your compliance." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" had a long day." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached signal between you and your father? hand, madam?" although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "And your mother is alive?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." his eyes and forehead. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to works. See paragraph 1.E below. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "And now?" He raised his hand. our word." "Then what has happened to him?" the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Leadenhall Street--and--" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and door?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open a very grave face. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every questioning and rather startled gaze. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, some water from a caraffe. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous noting anything else of interest. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. would then never go into court at all." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. asked with his eyes open. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated was once confined in the cab my mission was practically it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is me where it went to?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Serpentine Avenue. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir I leave." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "The vanishing of the lady." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are brain must have something in it." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "A greater distance to travel." evidence," I remarked. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had trifles." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which less than 26s. 4d. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Who by?" (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Now, then, what's the last entry?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "I don't believe it." "Of Friday, June 19th." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an voice.