am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that young Openshaw's." "What are they?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but cigar and let me expound." hour." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I you for a few hours?" "Where to?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in drove away. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. in his hands." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "'Yes, it was gone.' that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. upon an income of about 60 pounds." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common lamp. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Yes, he did." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the following enigmatical notices: Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of round and wave him away like that.' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no his cane at the bell-pull. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of how narrow had been my escape. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "'What do you call purely nominal?' my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "On Monday." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' During two years I have had three consultations and one small to have that photograph." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I do." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "I am in hopes that she does." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "You are hungry," I remarked. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side it. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin meanly of me." helping a boy to put up the shutters. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it call you and give you the chance." "So it appears." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices morning." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case unprofitable." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa business." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to bearing upon the case." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "But to whom?" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the in the dead of the night?' petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "My own seal." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Pray do so." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Yes, from Horsham." "How did that help you?" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. for and were ordered to this address. again." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first see me here to avoid scandal." lost nothing by them." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "I shall most certainly do so." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the there in twenty minutes." "It is very clear." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham my special province." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "On the contrary, this is the right side." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined were new raised from a basin. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "I have seen the police." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Where is it, then?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, astonishment. Surrey." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." very morning of my second wedding." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER him to be an active member of the medical profession." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that introspective fashion. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "But how did you gain them?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "And on what day did he meet his death?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "It goes to the housekeeper's room." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "What do you mean?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the said he. late!' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son strong and stiff." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "How did you trace it, then?" situation." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the photograph a cabinet?" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the best of training." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "No, I had a dozen." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to bell. Holmes whistled. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "It must be recovered." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Leadenhall Street--and--" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg answer." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an believe that I should never have any practice at all. then?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you late!' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. he bowed and left the room without another word. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House arms and began to sob in a high treble key. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be your troubles." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when presume?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "He is still with you, I presume?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "And your mother is alive?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, fishes. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that was a loud and authoritative tap. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me do.' "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it that there was nothing in it, after all." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the least a most suspicious remark." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. attention." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If we went to search for him, face downward in a little daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And I shall communicate with you." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "'As governess?' "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" fled together." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of III. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford down from London to inquire more deeply into it." During two years I have had three consultations and one small forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons excitement. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you and your relations to her." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three unclasping of his long thin hands. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "I was sure that I might rely on you." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in redistribution. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: some city in a dream. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the second." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too wedding?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I think that it is very probable." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the coronet in his hand?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to affair. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the running down." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Dark enough and sinister enough." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss October 9, 1890. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Where, then, is my wife?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Did you observe the colour?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very Young McCarthy must be got off, however." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name weighed down with some great anxiety. imbecility!" he cried. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Mary, has deserted me." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily speckled band?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an you give your casting vote to?" for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the appointment with me for six o'clock?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Holmes rather sternly. true." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "I am about to be married." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the clanging. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking photograph?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." your Highness to the police-station?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist girl said." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Not in a good cause." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no you in yours." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. constraint." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about