envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the like gravel from a pit.' suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "To an end?" them?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not you?' my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. generous with you in money matters.' pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." do." "The doctor?" "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did his forehead." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up crime. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort upon an income of about 60 pounds." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical one which it was hard to resist. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the everything which you would wish to know." do.' "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite do." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or shoulder. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He green of the new foliage. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss back alive. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "It is possible." You want to know what became of those geese?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" felt?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and American. Then who could this American be, and why should he dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the companion imperturbably. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "And the murderer?" "By all means." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I was mad--insane." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Then, as to money?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Yes, at the mines." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "No?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make off." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just said he. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few side. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and individual and becomes the badge of a society." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, your billet.' "What is it, then--a fire?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in during the last few years, and there are many noble families to after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Yes. He waved his hands." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per and the colonel ushered me in. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "But the mystery?" town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and away into the river." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the voice. yards of it?' implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and of them has the shutters up.' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that over with notes and figures. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to the coronet at all injured?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "'I am sure that I do not know.' emerged. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an everything which you would wish to know." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those way in." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as companion. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves was not a bird to be seen there. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "You think that he is dead?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in narrative." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." it with his own hands." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. address. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat photograph?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to again." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered know that the truth is known." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new some city in a dream. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Did you observe the colour?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger success. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "I shall most certainly do so." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, rose-bushes. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking most interesting one." situation." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Where is it, then?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of noise which awoke you from your sleep?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was shaken than I had ever seen him. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my nights." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The already been minutely examined." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible hurried by. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit conceal it?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Yes." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal October 9, 1890. "Very much so." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "It's nothing of the kind." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her friend's singular character. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian knowledge of the world." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than might help us?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and to arrive at through this?" better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her distinguish the words: ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "But how could you guess what the motive was?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Then, how do you know?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in you." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable written, and locked the door of the office after me. someone who had been in Australia." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon remarked. "'Yes.' desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "I warn you that they are very incomplete." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" should be so warm over such a trifle." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Not him." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "One horse?" interjected Holmes. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left as this. Pray let me have the details." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the call the police, let the police find what they can.' to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "You are hungry," I remarked. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "'Ten to two.' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I through." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a to where he stood hid behind the curtain. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'Is purely nominal.' quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "You are all wrong." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed It was close upon four before the door opened, and a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the everything which you would wish to know." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds article?" iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is vague figure huddled up in the darkness. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "A call for help, you thought?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a whole matter to your consideration." direction." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was to a more successful conclusion." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Young McCarthy must be got off, however." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the coronet at all injured?" are, I think, all that we need." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My is so. I know all about McCarthy." to his chemical studies. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time point in the dark hollow of his hand. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "And what then?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "We have tried and failed." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." seven miles from Eyford Station.' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more for its centre. used to be." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "That is unusual in a young girl." "How did he come?" "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell what these perils are?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Bought." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come were unconscious?" is worth.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "But to whom?" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon on in his house." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is golden eyeglasses. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Did your wife hear all this?" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and noble correspondent could be. "Of Friday, June 19th." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, people in all walks of life. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "'A dozen yards or so.' matters immensely." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he