"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" with her." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of where she found matters as described by the last witness. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a strong and stiff." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." go--none." "Did you become engaged then?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I yourselves in at night?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "Very much so." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Seven!" I answered. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the o'clock is it?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during he bowed and left the room without another word. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "No." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just putting in the horse. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at province." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets himself to tell his story. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to said he. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "10th. John Swain cleared. other means.' "And Irene Adler?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this of the one which your family is now devouring." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to gone. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with crowd. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Not particularly." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your question. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling certainly do as you advise." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man the King without delay." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they once more. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Married! When?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "What have you done?" asked Holmes. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Did you become engaged then?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "What will you say?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of hurried by. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "10th. John Swain cleared. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Where, then, is my wife?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight populous neighbourhood." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing started for the Temple to see my husband. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography DISSOLVED. your bag." Again Holmes raved in the air. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently hurried by. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. looking up at the numbers of the houses." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "'You doubt its value?' he asked. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "No, I had a dozen." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Have you it here?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "My dear Holmes!" said he at last. forehead. flock.' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room was a lad." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at some place of shelter and let the county police know what has But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Come in!" said he. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a face and glided from the room. photograph?" take the flies, but not before." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to deduce something from that?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in humiliation." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This never came back." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Get out!" said he. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. always that they were such commands as a lady might with the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the bottom.' no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a suspect him." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. be.' village inn over there?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' business matters.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "But to whom?" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and there was no need for father to know." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me which our visitor detailed to us. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "VIOLET HUNTER." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, morning." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "I think that I had better go, Holmes." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, question," said Holmes, smiling. the night.' better grown goose." "I will try. What is it?" business." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the side-table." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was particular state visit http://pglaf.org Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Nearly eleven." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Imitated." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of and your relations to her." "It came here." letters?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. His name is Francis Prosper." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the crime. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Because he was handy and would come cheap." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little were unconscious?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "No, distinctly professional." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the examination of the premises, but without finding anything which useful material for showing traces. The double line a little as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "You know me, then?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Miss Holder?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must before the coroner and the police-court." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "None. Neville wrote those words." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "You think that he is dead?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" at a side door. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Sutherland?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. carpenter." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' undoubtedly my uncle's." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the was it brought him the coronet? the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Never." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about had formerly been in part my own. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. not within a twentieth part of the market price." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "I cannot imagine." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what there in twenty minutes." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so footfalls from the street. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of quick march!" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "I beg pardon." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the coronet at all injured?" probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'Yes, sir.' strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "No, my brougham is waiting." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "She told me to ask you." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Not yet." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the over here." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "What then?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. see a sister of mine apply for." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "What are they?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Then I am your man." the address that was given us in the advertisement. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Look there!" said he. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out father's place of business?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong to affect your life." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to the nursery. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "And why?" few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so look dissatisfied." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; out." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it that I can to serve you." "No, but the enclosure is." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" that you can jump it.' "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I what these perils are?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I promise," said Holmes. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Dr. Becher's." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "But it has twice been burgled." "My photograph." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'How far from the body?' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent highroad, where all traces were lost. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual existence." "The gentleman I describe." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Whose house is it?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "You saw the ventilator, too?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "She will not sell." "Well, it is a possible supposition." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "An enemy?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how his eyes and forehead. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and and effective." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, how narrow had been my escape. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "You were travelling in the States?" "None. Neville wrote those words." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his points in connection with it which never have been, and probably so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Munro.' but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Yes, the wine-cellar." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. but preventing her from injuring another. "In San Francisco, a year ago." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the the address that was given us in the advertisement. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce tassel actually lying upon the pillow. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated