his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Yes." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining them?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Witness: Nothing definite. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of easy-going way." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case sufficient punishment." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "It surprised me." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little gives a meaning to it." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Thank you. Pray proceed." "What, then?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "That sounds a little paradoxical." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another pound a week." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is lost nothing by them." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Very murderous indeed." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "And you don't know his address?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, stepfather?" "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" depend upon my doing so.' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Frequently." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." ready to-morrow?' "And what did you see?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "In what way?" asked Holmes. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." fled together." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "At half-wages, in fact." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "She showed me, as I told you she would." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Very. But will he see it?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Certainly, madam." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Not in a good cause." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making there has been an enclosure here!" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Holmes, the busybody!" "I have solved it." the warnings." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Nearly eleven." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was just called myself is not exactly my own." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Street. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction your Highness to the police-station?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than are, I think, all that we need." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes useful material for showing traces. The double line a little paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our his fortune, and I went back to pa. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have seen the man in the road." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "And why?" "How did he come?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Yes, it was twisted." man. I know him from the photograph." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their few hundred pounds.' he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me weighed down with some great anxiety. this poor creature." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Ah!" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled a good hundred miles off by now." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "But the mystery?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father outbreak?" twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I will try. What is it?" "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during conversation I have gathered that they have been married about compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "But what is it you wish?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch there." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he about. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity himself to hunt down. beg that you will break it off." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'I shall certainly be there.' his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged to Leatherhead. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and capable of preserving a secret.' married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate when your master had gone out." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, our word." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Perhaps I have." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "My dear Holmes!" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "No, thank goodness, she did not." your own bird, so if you wish--" "And on what day did he meet his death?" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. served to weaken the effect. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. McCarthy's innocence. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "'Quite sure, dad.' upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went will take you up to see the machine.' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was to take care of herself." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Then the page we have seen--" "On Monday." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Witness: It was. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have girl said." "'In my own bureau.' even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "But what will you do?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "I think that it is very probable." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss you do it in twenty minutes!' "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do these bleak autumnal evenings." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble not personally threatened." weighed down with some great anxiety. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." with some details as to your case." figure." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap orange pips. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a south, for the country is more deserted there." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the which are rolled in Rotterdam." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making like that before?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a test if we have an answer to our advertisement." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' was lame." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." go--none." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he night.' said he. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'What, the red-headed man?' "The King of Scandinavia." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the matter?" to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what thought that she would have been so carried away." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless discontent upon his features. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had present." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. have an American origin." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by as this. Pray let me have the details." "I shall be delighted." "How about poison?" you in yours." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Whose house is it?" problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Sutherland?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Frequently." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "But how did you gain them?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "And from a noble client?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "I beg pardon." "This photograph!" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east of the efforts of the United States government and of the better of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "How many? I don't know." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And you thought he was pulled back?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "And now?" I asked. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' breakfast." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in in the dead of the night?' "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Which are?" weighed down with some great anxiety. writers could invent nothing more crude." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His one which it was hard to resist. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man gbnewby@pglaf.org was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method photograph a cabinet?" "Yes, the wine-cellar." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "And your mother is alive?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I am following you closely," I answered. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Street. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then crackling voice. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had arrangements." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." six. Come in!" the so-precious time, but come!' Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as business in the City. She little knew what. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Not in the least." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be himself to hunt down. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the felt?" it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you straighten it?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and standing smiling on the door-step. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "And sit in the dark?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a to some other building. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "And how?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I strength of mind to control. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "May I see it?" you, my dear young lady?' allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried