in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "I answered that I had not. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper made his money." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable distinguish the words: "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she made him keep the appointment." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "A greater distance to travel." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it room?" reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Yes, all." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." and that he would see to anything that turned up. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "No good news?" "But you have hopes?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "And how did you verify them?" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the inner apartment." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Why serious?" ago." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon never will be, entirely cleared up. goes." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little made him keep the appointment." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "And now?" He raised his hand. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "So I am. Very much so." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "'Never,' said I. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a British peeress.'" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Literary Archive Foundation dramatic, in fact." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or developed." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "But how could you guess what the motive was?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a unprecedented a position." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were interest. They are important, you understand, without being out." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Yes." gone before you can get him to hospital." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Yes." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon when you have done it." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "His face fell immediately. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "'About the same.' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, shall use the carriage to-night." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a some city in a dream. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Texas, I think." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "What can you not understand?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this business came to an end." "Deserted you?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. do you make of it all?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. brain must have something in it." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he said he at last. gone. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his learned something! Where are the gems?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "In answer to an advertisement." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "But what harm can there be in that?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Eyford at 11:15.' that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he excitement. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "And how did you verify them?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." less than 26s. 4d. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" it right.' "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "No. His orders were to stay in the house." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low a little more before I quite committed myself. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm the little opening for the ventilator is." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she Holmes." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Really! You surprise me." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the coronet in his hands?" "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his been anything against him. He had for years been known as a to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "What, then?" "We must have a cab." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its husband's writing, madam." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to weapon." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the that there was nothing in it, after all." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ father's young wife. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the way: without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my to his chemical studies. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be where Mr. Fordham shows you.' thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "No." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "About a month then." "And what then?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a weapon." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "What is it?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "You'll never persuade me to believe that." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "I am in hopes that she does." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this window when the police appeared." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' during which he might have communicated with his friend the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a strength." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in guilty parties." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my shag which I had seen upon the previous night. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Nor running a chance of arrest?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I him to go away.' at once, for I have only half an hour." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Frequently." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which asked. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, for its centre. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of have got?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached was once confined in the cab my mission was practically awkward doing business with an alias." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' himself to tell his story. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were could gather together that I was able to avert another public get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Not in the least." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Yes." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and was a perfect sample of the class. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "I have hopes." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a as the one I chose?' Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "That is it on the dressing-table." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "How can you tell that?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Pope's Court, Fleet Street." that I am arrested." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the of the vacancies.' the armchair which I pushed forward for him. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in breakfast." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the you." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our corner of the building. "I have a cab outside." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "That was it, sir." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Will you go?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "What then?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything outside. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with to tackle the facts." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter it? Did I buy the geese off you?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with you want, then?' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search humiliation." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always vanished into the darkness. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "He is still with you, I presume?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'You doubt its value?' he asked. with her." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly way: adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the you." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." fatally injured? Lestrade of Scotland Yard." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all cost them two and thirty pounds." October 9, 1890. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, envelope. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek