seen the man in the road." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at foot. away to you." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just eavesdroppers?' lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father and laid it on the table. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "I am following you closely," I answered. tear off another piece?' present." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to locked." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the roots. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'Yes, I promise.' at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he upon an income of about 60 pounds." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "He disappeared so suddenly." bird I ate is country bred." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is footfalls from the street. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." past. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the rooms." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at galvanised. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note For additional contact information: But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not walking." "I am about to be married." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the gentleman's clothes. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider felt?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A such person." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a hour?' that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. depend upon my doing so.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have upon the white wrist. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Was the window open?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Very truly yours, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. were new raised from a basin. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "You horrify me!" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Why serious?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the you do it in twenty minutes!' and I shall be with you presently." "The Cedars?" Eyford." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "And you can do nothing until then?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "We were both in the photograph." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "How do you know, then?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the washing it down with a long draught of water. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive you for a few hours?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the directors, with the result that you have seen." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope had no one to advise her at such a crisis." soul! here is her carriage at the door." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by your co-operation." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, away into the river." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the empty. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Certainly,' I answered. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as one of the states of the Union." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "And I." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Thank you. Pray proceed." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I open." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried than was visible to me." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" fatally injured? this man was intellectual?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Stolen!' he cried. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat little adventures." "How did you trace it, then?" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "I do." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Will you bet, then?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Pope's Court. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the delighted to hear it," he said. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an he. felt the room to be a little close.' "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from for and were ordered to this address. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his yourselves in at night?" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret are, and they are waiting for us." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were outsides of the windows. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "But the mystery?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring breakfast." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then the Assizes." correct than the official force." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the little opening for the ventilator is." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at open." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in American. Then who could this American be, and why should he lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up chemical work which was so dear to him. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and The summons was a brief and urgent one. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the maiden herself was most instructive." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Ah!" bird of prey. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he stammered. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon asked. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Come in!" said Holmes. "What! You do not mean bodies?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." your most interesting statement." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "You horrify me!" "Of what?" in the dead of the night?' the matter?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Literary Archive Foundation looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "That you are never beaten." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. works. cost them two and thirty pounds." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Where to?" "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "He is still with you, I presume?" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was for and were ordered to this address. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the as noiselessly as she had come. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question strong and stiff." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the papers must be those that are destroyed.' him nearly every evening." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great that there was nothing in it, after all." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." compunction about shooting them down." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced may never be exposed to such a temptation." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom cup of tea. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Which surely he restored to their owner?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "If so, much may have happened between." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a morning." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a pound a week." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "When did it break out?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his wife's character?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything bird of prey. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from villagers almost as much as their master. "Just look it up, then." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "What! Had he lost his wife?" heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Ample." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks most interesting one." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair photograph?" mystery!" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of sake, don't!" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Yes." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Was there a secret marriage?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending back into the street. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business nice household for a young lady." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill begin with, and I had not got mine yet." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" examine." spark where all is dark to me." "I cannot imagine." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the bed, and you in that chair." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." about here speaks of his kindness to him." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive lumber-room." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "What office?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "By train from Waterloo." the general public were present, then?" my friend's incisive reasoning. "But she will refuse." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me this truth that in these little records of our cases which you My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Was your sister dressed?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the