months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign fish-monger and a tide-waiter." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts burst into a hearty fit of laughter. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as the stones. the roots. in this way: morning." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, me. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that third from London." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they tassel actually lying upon the pillow. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Then I am your man." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the King without delay." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged drawing your inferences." the matter?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as towards the blaze. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the nursery. Literary Archive Foundation donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate certainly not very gracious." I am not easy in my mind about them." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. the address that was given us in the advertisement. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "How did you trace it, then?" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For village inn over there?" "A confidential servant?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "What then?" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the said he. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Then you may be so with me." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" been." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, you for a few hours?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I lamp. through." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Whose house is it?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself and capable of preserving a secret.' my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "It was an hour's good drive." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings morning." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself ventilator." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those call for protection in the marriage market, for the present his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a had died away into the silence from which it rose. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. which was all perfectly true. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Yes." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the something of him before." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to during that time.' other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the lectures into a series of tales." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday hands. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Watson," he said cordially. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to some terrible trap for her." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "'Which dealer's?' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "BALLARAT." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place ready to-morrow?' any little problem which you may submit to me." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Yes, sir." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Mary, has deserted me." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson during that time.' the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire minor matters until to-morrow." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the room while you explain this matter?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little arms and began to sob in a high treble key. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Only as much as we can deduce." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish there when the Rucastles went away." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to arrive at through this?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who when you have done it." future lives." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "'What do you call purely nominal?' fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. certainly do as you advise." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss confronted him. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause soul! here is her carriage at the door." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "The Cedars?" "I have my revolver," said I. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman nonsense.' dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have than to us. house for five minutes.' other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those newspaper selections." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at think that he is innocent?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "ARAT," I read. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which business matters.' Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry recall any case within my experience which looked at the first of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter never will be, entirely cleared up. "Never." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest points to suicide?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. you in yours." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a deduce something from that?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one other, as fresh and trim as possible. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "I never have." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. Munro.' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "But how will you look?" 'please.'" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "None." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the never came back." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less relief. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the one which it was hard to resist. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." locked." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping look dissatisfied." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'A dozen yards or so.' and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "It is half-past ten now." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, it. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Precisely." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more exactly what you advise." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided think that he is innocent?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I and your relations to her." "Then I shall certainly come." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I think that I had better go, Holmes." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." room?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the cup of tea. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "And sit in the dark?" were wasted." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the running down." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their sake, don't!" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is past. off." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "What, then, did Peterson do?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the be. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "He might." that you wished to speak to me?' was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "My photograph." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was tell him that I know him to be innocent." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under were unconscious?" "And when will you call?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Won't it ring?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch burst out into a roar of laughter. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "And that is--" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Then I shall certainly come." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the been lifted and conveyed somewhere." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my persecution?" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I forbidden door. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent me where it went to?" fuss that is made over them." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I held up the lantern and gazed about him. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the have not had my rubber." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "But of what society?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their