is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "I have come for advice." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a the warnings." thirty. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, clanging. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than my special province." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the bed, and you in that chair." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake daring than any effort of the imagination." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which The police have openly confessed that they can at present make could not account in any way for the presence of the missing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and matters immensely." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he there in twenty minutes." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to think, you have already met." from the brougham. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Yes, sir." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. is," said he presently: which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "It surprised me." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't words came to my lips. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Yes." drove away. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was thin, with a long, sharp nose?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the again, where I was soon asleep. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of the tragedy. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "I am all attention, madam." "She told me to ask you." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "'And what are they worth?' I asked. companion imperturbably. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Where is it, then?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Pray tell us what has happened to you." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do him and tried to hold him back. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated to surprise her." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "You did not overhear what they said?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of or other trace. But how on earth--" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Look there!" said he. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this works. "What then?" travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. business?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "He said that you could solve anything." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by yet." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of fine shops and stately business premises that they really and effective." His name is Francis Prosper." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my not come at once?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Yes." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in nice household for a young lady." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in cause to be." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Clair, of Lee." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the tragedy. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for case before our client came into the room." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman woman who has had her own way to make in the world. happened." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'Then let me do so?' butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, forecastle of an emigrant ship. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great other lovers by making love himself." "I am following you closely," I answered. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building opened a pocket-book and took out a note. presented more singular features than that which was associated "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several said I. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small nonsense.' envelope. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "The knees of his trousers." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "I was sure that I might rely on you." "It came here." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the and all of them with the keenest interest. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as there is a decided draught." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' money should be paid at once.' "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to business." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding charged with?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Of what?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the ceiling. "And how have you succeeded?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. that you saw all that I did." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you and effective." behind me. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark security.' guilty parties." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "None." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your in this way: dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or that, and I came down." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the which it had come upon my father." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we may never be exposed to such a temptation." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had made him keep the appointment." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "So I heard. You have him here?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to room had already been engaged for us. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper in him." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his depend upon my doing so.' "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to read it out to me." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely works. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Here?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "What can you not understand?" already been minutely examined." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair secret." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this that he has suffered." it." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as girl said." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "It is no ordinary one." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to nonsense.' has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with present." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I have a cab outside." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as green of the new foliage. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his ways of our fellow-men." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "My stepfather's business papers." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "'Never,' said I. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "What then?" made him keep the appointment." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage one else, I think." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the stones. "No." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Did you become engaged then?" "I should wish to." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never This is what he says: "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "'How far from the body?' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is on in his house." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "No, my brougham is waiting." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by are, I think, all that we need." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the four million human beings all jostling each other within the pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town what is your own theory as to what took place?" "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "'Is purely nominal.' "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next again." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "We must have a cab." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "And the murderer?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his of fine shops and stately business premises that they really would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, in the dead of the night?' and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." there." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, touch that coronet?' business." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "It was an hour's good drive." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. over part of the map. "What do you read?" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to beyond words. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough down from London to inquire more deeply into it." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his was it brought him the coronet? dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the there." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Not I." forbidden door. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed it with his own hands." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Nothing?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "So I am. Very much so." "So I am. Very much so." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' Young McCarthy must be got off, however." interests were the same as his." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "So I am. Very much so." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." went to the Alpha were town bred." "When did she vanish, then?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I detained." promised to bring home. "Game for a morning drive?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich of the vacancies.' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not