the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can instituted." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "'Never,' said I. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining fashion which was peculiar to him. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could my friend's incisive reasoning. appointment with me for six o'clock?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. your only hope of safety." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, hurried by. "I would give my fortune to have them back." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the warnings." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than hurried by. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have that I can to serve you." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "No legal papers or certificates?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "'It is locked up,' I answered. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide quickly through a disagreeable task. gentleman's clothes. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of is now desirous of getting those letters back." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. do you make of it all?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "The Cedars?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" you do it in twenty minutes!' her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but was feeling which was the fattest.' outsides of the windows. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Sholtos." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Very murderous indeed." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Yes, that is the Crown." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I am armed." foot. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Then you may entirely rely on me." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "'Yes, I promise.' road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email of fine shops and stately business premises that they really fat-encircled eyes. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to fashion which was peculiar to him. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was man. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gives a meaning to it." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "And help." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At fish-monger and a tide-waiter." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, would apply.' "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "By no means." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year you?' lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'And the work?' "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are key of the affair now." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, think that he is innocent?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'What do you call purely nominal?' said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Who by?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "That is possible." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should humiliation." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Count Von Kramm." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast the bed, and you in that chair." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the letters?" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly as yours." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are knowledge of the world." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a house for five minutes.' police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a wedding?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "'Is 4 pounds a week.' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. her also." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." through." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "One horse?" interjected Holmes. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Perfectly so." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "What then?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "And you don't know his address?" story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are had no one to advise her at such a crisis." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Where, then, is my wife?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the neither fascinating nor artistic." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I was sure that I might rely on you." "VIOLET HUNTER." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as constraint." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "Nor running a chance of arrest?" what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the station." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "'How far from the body?' means taking possession of that which another person has a prior and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on questionable one." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Deserted you?" bearing upon the case." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is in your London, you will know that the office of the company is was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "The gentleman I describe." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage someone who had been in Australia." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night companion. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of Fenchurch Street." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he what these perils are?" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are breakfast?" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" shaken than I had ever seen him. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a as this. Pray let me have the details." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." better grown goose." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite without a word or a look. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "I cannot tell." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? question," said Holmes, smiling. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "What of the rat, then?" "What then?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to do." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "That you are never beaten." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Well." yourselves in at night?" "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but to surprise her." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Then I can wait in the next room." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you redistribution. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past families. Now for the facts. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, in one or two places in England?' of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Then I am your man." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Which are?" completely overtopped every other consideration that we both IS five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Come in!" said he. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a test if we have an answer to our advertisement." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right dates and names. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "I warn you that they are very incomplete." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Ah!" "You have but to name it." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out electronic works anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his some water from a caraffe. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Then what has happened to him?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their advice." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "You saw the ventilator, too?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went detained." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and examine." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as respectable self." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. writers could invent nothing more crude." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "From his hat?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was have not had my rubber." all?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" residence of the great financier. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." anything to do with the matter?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said woman." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon sparkled upon his finger. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at