heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "And what did you see?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I have seen the police." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." kindly on the shoulder. "Certainly." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." have one." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Not I." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the maid will bring up your coffee." "I cannot as yet see any connection." ways of our fellow-men." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box this remarkable episode. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich whatever might befall. round and wave him away like that.' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." paper in the air. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said nothing of it?" "What! a murderous attack?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the Assizes." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save were new raised from a basin. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. was lame." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to my special province." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as with you?" relief. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to bearing upon the case." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to strong and stiff." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Yes, he did." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "The King of Scandinavia." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the hardly wander." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Yes, from Horsham." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "That was it, sir." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "I say that I have solved it." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was beg that you will break it off." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. redistribution. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "If so, much may have happened between." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important key of the affair now." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "No, distinctly professional." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Do you know him?" have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and and inquire as to the address." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Where to?' like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a do.' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off of your young ladies.' Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "It surprised me." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Never to return." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, daring than any effort of the imagination." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, ceremony." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then how narrow had been my escape. quick march!" "But how will you look?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low case-book, which he consulted. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth future lives." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Nothing?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. thought that she would have been so carried away." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a instituted." goes." your most interesting statement." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the asked with his eyes open. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It imbecility!" he cried. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise himself in a perplexing position. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would have had none more fantastic than this." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "'I am sure that I do not know.' Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "I never have." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "What I expected to see." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the British peeress.'" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your might have a private word with us. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not any." article?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Her father is very rich?" to take care of herself." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Nothing." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "But you have hopes?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. for securing the situation." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "At what time?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "It is very kind of you." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining breakfast." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the coronet at all injured?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. gone before you can get him to hospital." "The Cedars?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Never to return." not fit the lock." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Stoke Moran?" said he. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "That sounds a little paradoxical." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "And from a noble client?" however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Dirty?" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "'Quite sure, dad.' "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Yes, it was twisted." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Certainly, madam." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Quite so." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and For additional contact information: was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of did not hear it also.' "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Why did you beat the pavement?" important." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had said I. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "And sit in the dark?" enough to aid us in our search." you understand?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the depend upon my doing so.' "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes examine." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Lestrade of Scotland Yard." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "To an end?" "Then the page we have seen--" "I am to be neutral?" "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." thin legs towards the fire. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "I cannot imagine." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "And how have you succeeded?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can kindly on the shoulder. "'Never.' be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Yes." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "And when will you call?" "Yes, sir." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than from the brougham. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found think that any burglar could have done. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the III. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been yet." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point pictures, libraries, or plate. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "That was it, sir." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "BALLARAT." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "It looks newer than the other things?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'What are you doing there?' he asked. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady kindly on the shoulder. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the inner apartment." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to such attractions and accomplishments?' The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I shoulder. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as unclasping of his long thin hands. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you wanted for ourselves." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty it means?" "How did you deduce the select?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the disturbance in my wife." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "At the wedding breakfast." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't companion. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Yes." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over to tackle the facts." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. been able to understand it, in a very few words. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "No?" "I cannot imagine." him!" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Precisely." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have excitement. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "I am sure." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches a little more before I quite committed myself. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "No." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A points to suicide?" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he charge against him will break down." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a was once confined in the cab my mission was practically glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' undoubtedly my uncle's." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." not, dad?" she asked. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily upon a handsome competence. despaired of." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not written, and locked the door of the office after me. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was hour?' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about direction." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and cigars in their mouths. "My dear Holmes!" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "What!" he roared. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, shaken than I had ever seen him. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew interests were the same as his." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my