there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'I am sure if I had known--' in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings always that they were such commands as a lady might with inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of had died away into the silence from which it rose. gigantic client. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. 'please.'" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about arrangements." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "The knees of his trousers." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "'Ten to two.' my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, very morning of my second wedding." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would speckled band?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the was keenly on my guard against him. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there your equipment. "How many? I don't know." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in late!' "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, electronic works minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the 11:15.' You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be acquaintance?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, in his hands." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered other, as fresh and trim as possible. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend the coroner come to?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "I cannot as yet see any connection." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. go--none." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all matter." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, entirely devoid of interest." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Yes, at the mines." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. room?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, woven round him. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it prove to be little relation between the different incidents of such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Precisely." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike was not a bird to be seen there. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with secret." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "And that is--" contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man crime. three of the beryls in it, was missing. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that ready to-morrow?' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we business at Coburg Square is serious." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently said he at last. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. way in." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the dates and names. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "I was sure that I might rely on you." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your searched, without anything being found which could incriminate yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. disturbance in my wife." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the little trying to do so much typewriting?" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by place of silver." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. mystery." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose in a very precise fashion." over with notes and figures. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were the one as in the other." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few himself in a perplexing position. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Henry Baker is a member." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I retorted upon me, and I on you." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "I guessed as much." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." gone. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven main points of my analysis." "At the wedding breakfast." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "He slept on the premises." as he remarks, very much against the son." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "But how?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have to where he stood hid behind the curtain. were unconscious?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "What I expected to see." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "I cannot think." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "In answer to an advertisement." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "I say it is." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either late!' residence of the great financier. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "I have my revolver," said I. "But you were on a friendly footing?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "My dear Holmes!" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him said he. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I For additional contact information: two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is a very grave face. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" away into the river." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." placed his cuttings. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. noble correspondent could be. highroad, where all traces were lost. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Who by?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after thin legs towards the fire. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "There are none." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the as he remarks, very much against the son." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing not as remarkable as your advertisement." than to us. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took asked. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he in his power. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Yes, at the mines." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "A call for help, you thought?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "We were both in the photograph." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a were unconscious?" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in room. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, rat could hardly pass through." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." call the police, let the police find what they can.' "It came here." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself pierced for earrings?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, this unhappy family?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, past. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with works. See paragraph 1.E below. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Here?" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." him. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Only as much as we can deduce." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'In my own bureau.' Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It might help us?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress point our research must commence, and we will begin it by from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you disturbance in my wife." "Always." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in and put his glass in his pocket. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." tell me that you intended to go into harness." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as imbecility!" he cried. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and effective." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm washing it down with a long draught of water. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during memory. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of weighed down with some great anxiety. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Perhaps we may make them less so." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their conversation I have gathered that they have been married about would then never go into court at all." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Pray do so." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. some water from a caraffe. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I examination of the premises, but without finding anything which have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Street. "A call for help, you thought?" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her locked." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the