jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is http://gutenberg.net/license). know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" better in every way that they should make their position a little for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "But she could not love him." yourselves in at night?" Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Were they all fastened this morning?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "How do you know, then?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would persecution?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, along the entire front of the house, with three long windows had died away into the silence from which it rose. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses before the coroner and the police-court." "Not him." "You horrify me!" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black will find little credit to be gained out of this case." generous with you in money matters.' "'Very good.' While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we danger is over." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the room while you explain this matter?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." front of me. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time Munro.' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco because she had spent so short a time in this country that she beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a yourselves in at night?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Yes, all." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend was not a bird to be seen there. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "The knees of his trousers." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was distance from the station, and there we found the young lady process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "And who is her maid?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "What of the rat, then?" "An accident, I presume?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "What, then?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of fire. You quite follow me?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Then you may entirely rely on me." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John man. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between if she died from some sudden fright." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant bonnet, and went out." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself call the police, let the police find what they can.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to not fit the lock." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Seven!" I answered. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Nothing." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. late!' return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Always." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take very peculiar words of the dying woman?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man Where does the thing come from?' fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "That is it on the dressing-table." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger test if we have an answer to our advertisement." all that?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Mrs. Toller serenely. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' unkempt, staring out at me. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Breckinridge is his name." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Does that suggest anything?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "And Miss Sutherland?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his careless servant girl?" "Yes, at the mines." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. noting anything else of interest. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "That's no good." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the brandy and water within his reach. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. suddenly upon us." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we waste of energy." time." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive of them has the shutters up.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "VIOLET HUNTER." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Imitated." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Yes, but only for you and me." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray go back?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a such attractions and accomplishments?' never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was fear." straighten it?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "No, I think that I'll take it." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "But how did you gain them?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My in one or two places in England?' pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own himself. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "My dear Holmes!" the tragedy. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country even so self-evident a thing as that." "What are they?" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, once more to my work. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between one or two very singular points about this room. For example, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Project Gutenberg-tm works. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of some water from a caraffe. "What can it mean?" I gasped. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." respectable self." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate leaning back in his chair. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at figure." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a vanished into the darkness. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, had picked up in the wood. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of lips." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get I leave." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Well, but China?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring clanging. "I will, Miss Turner." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "I have come for advice." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any brandy and water within his reach. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "In San Francisco, a year ago." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the driver. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has most interesting one." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a the stable lane now." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the straightened it out again. "A client, then?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Upon what point?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable some water from a caraffe. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I name is different." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears certainly do as you advise." not fit the lock." "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, woven round him. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Do you go out much in society?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year instincts rose up against that laugh. "Oh, yes, easily." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to morning." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "My dear Holmes!" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was leave you to your papers for a little." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Where to?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a points to suicide?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." way in." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold gone. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "That is not always so easy." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client bonnet, and went out." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "You were travelling in the States?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical shall use the carriage to-night." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "This photograph!" time." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think my former friend and companion. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Yes, that is the Crown." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless You want to know what became of those geese?" along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of open." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal to affect your life." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and get her out of the way." despair." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the to affect your life." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a