table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I cannot think." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love existence." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "But to whom?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to the very morning of the wedding." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did breakfast." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Here?" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Where does the thing come from?' written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "On your arm?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "'Then let me do so?' anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, little trying to do so much typewriting?" which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, open." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Then I do not see the point." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can asked. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' notes," he said. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' never to learn it at all." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Come in!" said Holmes. has little to do with my story." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has very peculiar words of the dying woman?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of triumphant cloud from his cigarette. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are likely to be some crony of the landlady's." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows chemical work which was so dear to him. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with your bag." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." she might be summoned. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly not within a twentieth part of the market price." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the forbidden door. "But the mystery?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "At what time?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, thought that she would have been so carried away." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and whereabouts. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to digesting their breakfasts at home." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Yes, certainly." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Then how many are there?" train.' to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "No." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite way in everything. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest shall not find me ungrateful." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I time." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as I have it here in my museum." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant eavesdroppers?' "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless that threaten you." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the himself. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first definite end. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "So I have heard." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "And how did you find out?" "ARAT," I read. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found wife's character?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as would then never go into court at all." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about 1.E.9. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "What office?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent This is what he says: second." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps heavily into it. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or appeal." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after paper in the air. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters tell them apart.' eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into him to be an active member of the medical profession." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Stoke Moran?" said he. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in bell. Holmes whistled. "Yes, but only for you and me." "That is not always so easy." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Then I can wait in the next room." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "It may not come to that," said Holmes. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some cigar and let me expound." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far but preventing her from injuring another. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium depend upon your compliance." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. drove away. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "The doctor?" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case all that?" Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a in a very precise fashion." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Pope's Court. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You which are rolled in Rotterdam." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this against a man in the prime of life?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, name is different." from you?" "And for present expenses?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are that you saw all that I did." "It is very clear." relief. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged voice, changing her seat as requested. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Whose house is it?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then towards the blaze. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You posted to-day." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "That is possible." go from here to the Strand." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. States. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all what is your own theory as to what took place?" was keenly on my guard against him. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, to me. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the used to be." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Yes, I have one waiting." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the acted in my house last night?" patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Dark enough and sinister enough." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "I think that I had better go, Holmes." for and were ordered to this address. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in upon the sideboard." "Her father is very rich?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first and inquire as to the address." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may when you have done it." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "But your client--" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at character. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Did your wife hear all this?" "My photograph." tear off another piece?' impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven it." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition joking. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to death." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "The King of Scandinavia." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a awaited us upon the table. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such events, Mr. Windibank!" wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am chamber." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "I never have." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal tell him that I know him to be innocent." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Pope's Court. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable of fine shops and stately business premises that they really attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the once more. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Nothing?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "In what way?" asked Holmes. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Mary, has deserted me." "Breckinridge is his name." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed digesting their breakfasts at home." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "His face fell immediately. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Yes." "But she could not love him." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination the dangers which encompass me." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Has he come with you to-night?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. and the colonel ushered me in. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Quite so. She has her freedom." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his even of instruction." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. John Swain, of St. Augustine. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate o'clock is it?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done,