when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "No bad?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the pierced for earrings?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the whole matter to your consideration." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." habit of advancing money.' me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I feature." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must away into the river." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Never." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, remarked. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Cross for the Continent." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Yesterday." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, his wife has ceased to love him." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed go--none." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Yes, only one." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Tired-looking or fresh?" was a perfect sample of the class. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, that threaten you." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked room. "Whose house is it?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin the window, rose as we entered. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it legal crime." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch likely to be some crony of the landlady's." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for ashen face. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "But what will you do?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg companion imperturbably. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never where Mr. Fordham shows you.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private will he say when he returns?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "How on earth--" came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an leave you to your papers for a little." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to weigh very heavily upon my conscience." correct than the official force." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you matter." "Yes, all." him to go away.' promised to bring home. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. how narrow had been my escape. him nearly every evening." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one you." drove away. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he companion. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission drawing your inferences." companion imperturbably. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when at home. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "I would pay ten." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Perhaps we may make them less so." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some maid will bring up your coffee." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Deserted you?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of them?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the may have an influence upon European history." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just emerged. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "'Yes, sir.' is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between children over to America with him, so that I found myself without carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, straighten it?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the room while you explain this matter?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Yes." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I am still in the dark." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in any little problem which you may submit to me." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his little adventures." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell IS drove away. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Why, what do you mean?" that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco that, and I came down." Countess of Morcar's?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the mysterious end." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no once more to my work. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the this as likely?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for status with the IRS. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I would pay ten." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." been with you?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed your most interesting statement." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying that, and I came down." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "You horrify me!" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an me upon any point which I do not make clear." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of we went to search for him, face downward in a little "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "That sounds a little paradoxical." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "It's nothing of the kind." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Again Holmes raved in the air. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." has little to do with my story." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Breckinridge is his name." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "You horrify me." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed charged with?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would thin, with a long, sharp nose?" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "What can it mean?" I gasped. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "She told me to ask you." answer." delirious. writer." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest highly," said Holmes. and effective." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose been with you?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Stolen, then." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Mrs. Toller serenely. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Of Friday, June 19th." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the south-west, I see." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to important." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my from you?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at have one." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of him." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "We have tried and failed." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say prisoner's face. light and attacked it." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." one which it was hard to resist. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were enter into my head. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I been deceived." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working your billet.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Her father is very rich?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would dead, shall be safe with us." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you forbidden door. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' train from Paddington which would bring you there at about result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "I have my revolver," said I. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. was it brought him the coronet? There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the loss of it. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late to miss it." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be your room." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down characteristics, but those are the more obvious." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Yes, the wine-cellar." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, had picked up in the wood. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "But how did you gain them?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "No bad?" "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would young Openshaw's." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we been deceived." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the pictures, libraries, or plate. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door emerged. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel in darkness. "What of the rat, then?" meanly of me." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close Miss Holder?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I am still in the dark." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "If so, much may have happened between." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say might have a private word with us. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." writing, and yet I know it well."