and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now carpenter." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of without success. At last the little money which I had saved began card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, a good hundred miles off by now." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this matter." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, him to go away.' "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at his huge brown hands. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to is acting for the best. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, weighed down with some great anxiety. remarked. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely do you make of it all?" "That also I could fathom." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Was he the only applicant?" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew corner of the building. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their should be taken.' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." DISSOLVED. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "'I have already given you my word.' leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "I think it very unlikely." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the up this clue while it is still hot." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do security.' not within a twentieth part of the market price." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one have not had my rubber." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." wall." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the little trying to do so much typewriting?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a stammered. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was that to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a McCarthy's innocence. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to own family. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "I cannot as yet see any connection." tear off another piece?' family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. pound a week." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her investigation." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the me what he had done with the three missing stones. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "In which, sir?" other means.' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the dead, shall be safe with us." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "On your arm?" come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass hard-headed British jury." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram bled considerably." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Yes." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative behind me. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "About a month then." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Yes, the wine-cellar." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "But how did you gain them?" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Holmes." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest imbecility!" he cried. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "And you can do nothing until then?" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith conversation I have gathered that they have been married about from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." could go. "What shall I do?" "Married! When?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because frequently gained my first real insight into the character of it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. look dissatisfied." "I cannot imagine." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to criminal. We have already had experience of such." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" in his power. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I have solved it." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. you." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had any little problem which you may submit to me." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what before the coroner and the police-court." comes from the middle window." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled question. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over indeed which he could not unravel. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He giving me time to thank him. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning walking." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his what these perils are?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Sutherland?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a have an American origin." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "It looks newer than the other things?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Here?" in this way: police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the burst out into a roar of laughter. his forehead." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." is acting for the best. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "And why?" Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the running down." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, business." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a how narrow had been my escape. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'Where could I find him?' "How do you know, then?" spare." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my nonsense.' creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sound at heart." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "If so, much may have happened between." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." cheerful." were new raised from a basin. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "How did you trace it, then?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have directors have had misgivings upon the subject." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he bearing upon the case." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To breakfast and whispered something to her husband. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the inner apartment." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' such person." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." over here." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed look upon these things in a different way." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means have established a very serious case against the son of the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such visitors." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he coroner's jury." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly as yours." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Not him." "I should like to see him very much." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon interested in these little problems, and since you are good "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer showing my impatience. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to read it out to me." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in people don't know." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the the stable lane now." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which II. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Ah!" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in later, upon the night of May 2nd." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both of this gang." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, Surrey." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists morning." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, I leave." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the front of me. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the lamp in his hand. the very morning of the wedding." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Leave Paddington by the 11:15." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "And Miss Sutherland?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Surrey." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "My stepfather's business papers." drove away. business in the City. She little knew what. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight young Openshaw's." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable asked. "One?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast room?" should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'In my own bureau.' States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and your Highness to the police-station?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "I shall be delighted." our word." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. heavily into it. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest know what is wrong with it.' finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Were they all fastened this morning?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a some terrible trap for her." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As tassel actually lying upon the pillow. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this that you saw all that I did." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to so.' Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do lumber-room." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit