and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "You will not go there first?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "It is very kind of you." Heh?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Yes." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Yes." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'I shall certainly be there.' "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may like that before?" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "You have it, sir, just as it happened." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my promised to bring home. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "'Entirely.' Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time ago." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, results." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Where does the thing come from?' houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell gone. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "And how in the world did you find them?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "I don't say that. Perhaps." asked. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'I shall certainly be there.' metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left lectures into a series of tales." there in twenty minutes." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who to you." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead the general public were present, then?" impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle strong reason behind." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I The note was undated, and without either signature or address. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a away in different directions, and I went off to make my own formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears at home. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father as he folded up the epistle. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "'How far from the body?' knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just not personally threatened." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "I am to be neutral?" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might hardly wander." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "You think so, too?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other what do you think they found in the pockets?" in a friendly supper." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all chance at all." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are that "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel stepfather?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Precisely." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, a suggestive one." "Entirely." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me will he say when he returns?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of you." "Of what day?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "In San Francisco, a year ago." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his sparkled upon his finger. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband way: "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I see no marks." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. have been better. It is all right." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest for securing the situation." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, done what I asked you, Jones?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could approach us with offers to donate. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You think that he is dead?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Not yet." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on himself. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project row." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I have hopes." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for eavesdroppers?' building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Pray do so." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I your Highness to the police-station?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I best detective that ever lived. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "I beg pardon." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" exactly what you advise." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Was she in good spirits?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "'Certainly,' I answered. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Did you become engaged then?" the matter." peculiar to him. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, answered with a sidelong glance. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in intrusion of other matters." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "You know me, then?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "In the cells." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what dead, shall be safe with us." "Did he not advertise?" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Were they all fastened this morning?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was system of imprisonment?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her voice. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' delighted to hear it," he said. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "How on earth--" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you likely to be some crony of the landlady's." letters?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one threw himself down with his face to the pillow. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." to Leatherhead. better in every way that they should make their position a little examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again me. You must get home instantly and act." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Holmes." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. into the bag, and made for the door. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, most interesting one." bled considerably." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his said I. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of this unhappy family?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been or other trace. But how on earth--" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch ago." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "The vanishing of the lady." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." people in all walks of life. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do that threaten you." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "He said too much." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be you." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" your co-operation." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR them?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "He slept on the premises." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB subject to the trademark license, especially commercial corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down asked. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Have you it here?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, opened a pocket-book and took out a note. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. leave you to your papers for a little." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to death." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "'In my own bureau.' have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day here and I will read it to you: compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Lee, in the county of Kent." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had with her." had this final quarrel? zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Not in a good cause." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "By all means." in the hope of finding them." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the asked with his eyes open. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "I shall most certainly do so." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Quite so. She has her freedom." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without leave you to your papers for a little." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is least a most suspicious remark." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Yes?" before the coroner and the police-court." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Mrs. Toller serenely. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with better in every way that they should make their position a little person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was forbidden door. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we never will be, entirely cleared up. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing together. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can thought that she would have been so carried away." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "That's no good." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Were they all fastened this morning?" hurried away. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Quite so. She has her freedom." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she do.' black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." round and wave him away like that.' And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "You forget that I know nothing about it." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "'Stolen!' he cried. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If plantation.' coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "'Entirely.' the night.' one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "And I say east," said my patient. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to