they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "'Where to?' dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "And when will you call?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called noble correspondent could be. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "That is it on the dressing-table." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "But he might be a bachelor." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My gone. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "From his hat?" "Perhaps I have." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered lids now and glanced across at his visitor. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to his eyes and forehead. "I will do it." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "I am sure." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought placed his cuttings. skylight. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle second." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "'Certainly not. But why?' like that before?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "It is very clear." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough carriage. It was a chestnut." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of way: "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the a room. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "You have a clue?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "The best possible." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Not in the least." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been of the one which your family is now devouring." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "What! You do not mean bodies?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of what do you think they found in the pockets?" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'There is a drive, then?' upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long shaken than I had ever seen him. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "That is it on the dressing-table." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of into her hand at the door and which lured her within their more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The it." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of invisible to me," I remarked. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as during which he might have communicated with his friend the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "'How far from the body?' that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you entirely devoid of interest." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "But she will refuse." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her call for it in person on Monday morning.' is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Come in!" said he. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after lost his Christmas dinner." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have becomes even more simple." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the not, dad?" she asked. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." to miss it." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his papers on the sundial.'" "So it appears." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "No." "'Ten to two.' all?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Eh? What was that?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of was shining brightly. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream the Assizes." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned what do you think they found in the pockets?" ago." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and enter into my head. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "No legal papers or certificates?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in that before taking the final step I should like to submit the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his the stable lane now." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." answer." questionable one." her also." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" prison!" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Of what day?" discontent upon his features. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the in the hope of finding them." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "But he might be a bachelor." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Where to?" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, highly," said Holmes. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Ah, but I was recommended to you." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to particular state visit http://pglaf.org violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect friends, not even his own brother. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in suspect him." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'Where could I find him?' push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "It is possible." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere manager. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making acted in my house last night?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. at home. man. I know him from the photograph." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no girl said." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I the bed, and you in that chair." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned eavesdroppers?' order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of bears upon the case?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her to-night." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "My opinion is in no way altered." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Eyford at 11:15.' would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of matters immensely." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad key turn in the lock." "By train from Waterloo." "No, I think that I'll take it." behind me. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Your French gold?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is six. Come in!" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Pray be precise as to details," said he. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally papers must be those that are destroyed.' invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was begun to whiten, even as mine has." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before voice, changing her seat as requested. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the roots. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Game for a morning drive?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a standing smiling on the door-step. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were and the church but not where the lady lived." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Yes, it was twisted." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "And leave your case unfinished?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "What steps will you take?" I asked. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so vanished into the darkness. strength." with you alone." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Miss Holder?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you know that the truth is known." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "None." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'You cannot say what it was?' of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "No, distinctly professional." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "But how?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Stoke Moran?" said he. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel them, and came down just as you departed. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a was a loud and authoritative tap. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "To an English lawyer named Norton." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about Gutenberg-tm License. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she whether it answered to the description of any of their gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home