"Your French gold?" "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "'About the same.' commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I am all attention, madam." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." brain must have something in it." "I think that it is very probable." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I cannot say that I have." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. standing smiling on the door-step. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting round with crates and massive boxes. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Yes, there are nearly always some there." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, manager. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. was feeling which was the fattest.' detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Project Gutenberg-tm works. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "'As governess?' down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the client, rising. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" You want to know what became of those geese?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for light and attacked it." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a straighten it?" the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then started for the Temple to see my husband. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "But he might be a bachelor." "The best possible." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Then I can wait in the next room." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "We were both in the photograph." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out strength of mind to control. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his in the port of London." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang papers." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the advice." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight returned to France?" The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "What have you to say now?" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What of a light. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "And leave your case unfinished?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. his grey eyes. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Your French gold?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the crackling voice. amused." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" future lives." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe directors, with the result that you have seen." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William in my life." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in at my own good fortune. "That is possible." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in room had already been engaged for us. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some her also." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "My photograph." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, outside." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My there!' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "And Irene Adler?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Pray continue your narrative." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again goes." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Cross for the Continent." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Ha! you find it so?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the depend upon my doing so.' noise which awoke you from your sleep?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us than to us. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a States. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "The gentleman I describe." as this. Pray let me have the details." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No over with notes and figures. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I warn you that they are very incomplete." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "'How far from the body?' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her depend upon my doing so.' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your money should be paid at once.' "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Well." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an served to weaken the effect. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Serpentine Avenue. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to you?' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "'What do you call purely nominal?' heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "And it is--" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "In which, sir?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Ah, but I was recommended to you." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "I will, Miss Turner." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "'Yes, sir.' "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "What steps will you take?" I asked. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your to affect your life." I nodded to show that I had heard. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you used to be." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind made his money." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in to-night?' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "You are hungry," I remarked. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped morning." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let new acquaintance to Baker Street. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "That was it, sir." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed people don't know." rooms." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." about. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the to surprise her." Street. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the so-precious time, but come!' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "There is the writing." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the cigars in their mouths. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler which it had come upon my father." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, made him keep the appointment." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure might help us?" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs I leave." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him round and wave him away like that.' mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge business." despair." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not a very grave face. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "There is the writing." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the question. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" DISSOLVED. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered skylight. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "How do you know, then?" miles off. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the loss of it. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "I cannot tell." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said imbecility!" he cried. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a his grey eyes. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty that I am arrested." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "My photograph." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right was keenly on my guard against him. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then know all about it," he snarled. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, disturbance in my wife." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "They are typewritten," I remarked. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began unkempt, staring out at me. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between from the brougham. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and of it with the greatest attention. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was dramatic, in fact." "Yes." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Nothing?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I you do it in twenty minutes!' "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." gone. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was bedroom door." "He is dead," cried several voices. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "What?" "Then the page we have seen--" "No legal papers or certificates?" shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Yes." interest. They are important, you understand, without being saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead upon the white wrist. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where is," said he presently: All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "So it appears." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "So I heard. You have him here?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and