meant it for the best. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, future lives." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" It was close upon four before the door opened, and a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in IS there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue chemical work which was so dear to him. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. nonsense.' of the one which your family is now devouring." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads DISSOLVED. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "But not more so than I to find you." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "There are none." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill how narrow had been my escape. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I would give my fortune to have them back." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. present." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are I shall continue with my miserable story. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with States. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "And who is her maid?" "Nothing." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I the loss of it. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it you came in." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to an introduction to him?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, what these perils are?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was you want, then?' "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of there is a decided draught." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you For additional contact information: "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Farm upon the left." outsides of the windows. matter." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "That's no good." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one begun to whiten, even as mine has." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but next day. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. should be taken.' his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Ah!" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the very morning of the wedding." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and have accepted such a situation. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! congratulate you again." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate said he, "my real name is James Ryder." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became singular points about the case. What did the police think of the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Nothing." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable of campaign. "'Entirely.' I. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. he died? to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant attention." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, October 9, 1890. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that father's young wife. "And why?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Ha! you find it so?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." in the dead of the night?' free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I cannot imagine." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You to change my dress. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "It's nothing of the kind." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without goes." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "My private note-paper." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Then I do not see the point." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Yes." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for go from here to the Strand." "One?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "None." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." correct than the official force." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Foundation "It's nothing of the kind." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Mrs. Toller serenely. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Ample." man. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring not as remarkable as your advertisement." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Holmes." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "She walked into the breakfast-room." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent to go into your room and bar your shutters?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "I cannot think." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then in the port of London." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he shag which I had seen upon the previous night. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no she might be summoned. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "But I have heard all that you have heard." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I will not look." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he figure." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the as he remarks, very much against the son." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "But who is he?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." have got?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the very morning of the wedding." "I cannot tell." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and wife's character?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some wedding?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "The decline of his fortunes, then?" galvanised. gentleman's clothes. Countess of Morcar's?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "And how did you find out?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Pray continue your narrative." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "And why?" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to go from here to the Strand." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical woman who has had her own way to make in the world. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he from the brougham. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each points to suicide?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Yes." "Will you go?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with DAMAGE. developed." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "What?" position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You a little more before I quite committed myself. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about detained." Holmes." "I have my revolver," said I. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Won't it ring?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Street. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow past. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." in one or two places in England?' smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Yes." "Then he might have called to you?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the new duties?' Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Edgeware Road. photograph a cabinet?" to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about the south-west, I see." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as himself. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "One of his hands." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "My last client of the sort was a king." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "An accident, I presume?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter very old mansion. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" with frightened eyes at his accuser. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the bottom.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "So I have heard." said he. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Eyford at 11:15.' "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very matter over." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable third from London." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Never to return." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the very letters. But what is this written above them?' nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss and put his glass in his pocket. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco four million human beings all jostling each other within the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I will do it." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Yes, they were peculiar boots." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham very morning of my second wedding." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End awkward doing business with an alias." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting 1.F. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who them present such singular features as the strange train of "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." colonel looking down at me. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I infinite languor in his face. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Thank you. Pray proceed." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my 1.F. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If stood on the top of it. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled question you as to those details which seem to me to be most affair. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Yes." "Deserted you?" will take you up to see the machine.' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two are, I think, all that we need." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the flock.' seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "I promise," said Holmes. stepfather?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "And for present expenses?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "What shall I do?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his questioning and rather startled gaze. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting astonishment. in one or two places in England?' younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It it with his own hands." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from upon a handsome competence. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before pressing in one house as in another. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. cup of tea. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the which it had come upon my father." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may