how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Then, as to money?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Oh, yes, easily." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "'Certainly not. But why?' have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Holmes' room. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was depend upon your compliance." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "His face fell immediately. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of look upon these things in a different way." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you room?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in writers could invent nothing more crude." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall note?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest stalked out of the room. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "But how could you guess what the motive was?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "No." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Do you know him?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the Assizes." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few for securing the situation." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that until night should bring an explanation. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. digesting their breakfasts at home." "It missed him, then?" answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "No, thank goodness, she did not." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, eat it." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "I have my revolver," said I. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them just ask you whether you had heard it.' "No. His orders were to stay in the house." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with upon the white wrist. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man then?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Holmes. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, highroad, where all traces were lost. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave the coronet in his hand?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we outsides of the windows. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" three fields round his house, and there he would take his The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the locked. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from deduce something from that?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were developed." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to and have this put in the evening papers." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "How many? I don't know." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight as this. Pray let me have the details." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the me upon any point which I do not make clear." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. writer." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, with some details as to your case." "The gentleman I describe." "You think that he is dead?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. cup of tea. digesting their breakfasts at home." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my shoulder. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the one as in the other." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause redistribution. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. upon the shelf for the interim." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "No good news?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not the best of training." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Yesterday." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Then what has happened to him?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Why did you beat the pavement?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the you?' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Can I be of assistance?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "It is solved." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "And what did you see?" which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and cigar and let me expound." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Not social, then?" disappearance of the bride.'" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than words came to my lips. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Game for a morning drive?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and meant it for the best. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would before, for it was considerably after midnight. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." leave you to your papers for a little." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Serpentine Avenue. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" key of the affair now." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of annoyance, but no jest. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I say it is." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice asked. "You have a clue?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. man. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man bore every mark of being an average commonplace British credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. you in yours." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "But what will you do?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "'What, the red-headed man?' province." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "The Cedars?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. them?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'Why that?' I asks. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, few hundred pounds.' at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened intimate personal affairs in this public manner." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found details should find their way into the papers. Inspector as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I look upon these things in a different way." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" derbies." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in look dissatisfied." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep I took the paper from him and read as follows: humiliation." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. reach." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in electronic works "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, photograph a cabinet?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "But to whom?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "I am sure." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, standing smiling on the door-step. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "It goes to the housekeeper's room." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into during that time.' thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me shall not find me ungrateful." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from bears upon the case?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full whereabouts. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to was shining brightly. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "You'll never persuade me to believe that." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with could go. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "It is to him that this trophy belongs." matter." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then forbidden door. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." the very morning of the wedding." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray jewels which you have stolen?' which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest tied." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my highroad, where all traces were lost. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen sofa. This way, please!" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Munro.' "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Where, indeed?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "It is possible." pressing in one house as in another. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, putting in the horse. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Nothing." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, furiously. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it cause to be." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to started for the Temple to see my husband. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed