"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." golden eyeglasses. "By train from Waterloo." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' might have a private word with us. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "The King of Scandinavia." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. some terrible trap for her." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat neither fascinating nor artistic." it." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" here and I will read it to you: "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the flock.' "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said again, where I was soon asleep. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "And how?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a exactly what you advise." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an simple cases which are so extremely difficult." direction." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Oh, yes, easily." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "When did she vanish, then?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son politicians who had been sent down from the North. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been least a fellow-countryman. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing that I can to serve you." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I shall most certainly do so." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "No." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or chance." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" I. 'please.'" will be renamed. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the who was a member of your goose club." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "None." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power overpowering excitement and concern. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did business came to an end." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do village inn over there?" "What I expected to see." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from lamp. answered with a sidelong glance. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Farm upon the left." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Eyford." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "How can you tell that?" see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought get her out of the way." Holmes' face clouded over. ran thus: garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather six. Come in!" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "It surprised me." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each narrative." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, presented which may be striking and bizarre without being this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the helping a boy to put up the shutters. hour?' "Where, indeed?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the little opening for the ventilator is." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." our word." examine." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little extraordinary contortions. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, orange pips. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was should be taken.' A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as and wait." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for noting anything else of interest. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon you." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "In what way?" asked Holmes. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window opportunities to fix the problem. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "And I." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been there when the Rucastles went away." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him of Mr. Rucastle's." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was really the only notable feature about the thing." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat allusion to a rat. II. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it on re-entering her father's house?" of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "One of the highest in England." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sufficient punishment." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "It was." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself himself to hunt down. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such recover the gem." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the think that any burglar could have done. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Entirely." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of sofa. This way, please!" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "'Oh, no.' left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "A confidential servant?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing forecastle of an emigrant ship. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of I nodded to show that I had heard. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To approach us with offers to donate. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "'Most admirably.' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he beyond words. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" 'I should be able to look after that for you.' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the gbnewby@pglaf.org situation." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella if she died from some sudden fright." unprecedented a position." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises are, and they are waiting for us." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "By all means." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Yes, at the mines." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal business?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., could not account in any way for the presence of the missing making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised yourselves in at night?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and derbies." held up the lantern and gazed about him. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'Is purely nominal.' kindly on the shoulder. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he nothing with him." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At fact, we may call it conclusive." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of corner of the building. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her letters?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium remarked. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "We must have a cab." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was of Fenchurch Street." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "What I expected to see." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Yes." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since retorted upon me, and I on you." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it article?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she of Fenchurch Street." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there through." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no populous neighbourhood." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "How many? I don't know." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' outbreak?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious forehead. "Stolen." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Mary, has deserted me." "My stepfather's business papers." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative lost nothing by them." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and away to you." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Do you go out much in society?" while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "It was an hour's good drive." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Very. But will he see it?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the I shall communicate with you." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient golden eyeglasses. never to learn it at all." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, which we had just quitted. trifles." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "You have carte blanche." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a to-night?" I asked. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, roused himself from his reverie. "The knees of his trousers." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "'I am sure if I had known--' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the there!' "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Imitated." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and this truth that in these little records of our cases which you the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of had died away into the silence from which it rose. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "I will do it." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I shall most certainly do so." or in danger--" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "I will do it." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "But your client--" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "How long did she speak to this Alice?" thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your is worth.' course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was not as remarkable as your advertisement." him." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my had died away into the silence from which it rose. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand