to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish my friend's incisive reasoning. "Nothing." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon said he. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Stoke Moran?" said he. enter into my head. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" in my life." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every less than 26s. 4d. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and derbies." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, key turn in the lock." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that introspective fashion. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Come in!" said he. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming ventilator." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found back into the street. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." copied or distributed: silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, goes." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, pictures, libraries, or plate. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in my little problems." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "A greater distance to travel." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing be. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us Street. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your possible that we could bring him back to her? the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Yes, it was twisted." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. during which he might have communicated with his friend the look upon these things in a different way." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer if I call to-morrow?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Leadenhall Street--and--" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. hereditary King of Bohemia." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "You forget that I know nothing about it." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "I say it is." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Holmes' thin, eager face. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "The knees of his trousers." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, in the hope of finding them." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull and effective." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all morning." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between third from London." "That you are never beaten." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Was your sister dressed?" over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Perhaps I have." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "You horrify me!" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be ashen face. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have Mary, has deserted me." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'Most admirably.' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "But she will refuse." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! started for the Temple to see my husband. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a business in the City. She little knew what. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow ago." you give your casting vote to?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him here and I will read it to you: Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out touch that coronet?' have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Holmes, the busybody!" will not take me long to tell. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and your co-operation." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here had this final quarrel? "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. copied or distributed: intimate personal affairs in this public manner." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and appointment with me for six o'clock?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked was already answered. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on are, and they are waiting for us." carried out of court." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," silent! Oh, he will be silent!' Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by what these perils are?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into depend upon my doing so.' "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Have you it here?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. before the coroner and the police-court." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a shall use the carriage to-night." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste have not had my rubber." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Sutherland. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it companion. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what other lovers by making love himself." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? both be extremely obliged.' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard child?' it." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "That is easily got." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass fish-monger and a tide-waiter." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "What shall I do?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your burst into a hearty fit of laughter. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. chemical work which was so dear to him. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "How did that help you?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "And I say east," said my patient. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, matters immensely." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor you give your casting vote to?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he most important business. It is probable that he will be away all you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "What have you to say now?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss make me his representative both with the servants and with the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it London for the present?" "Where is it, then?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. she used." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they I think that I could be of assistance to you." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not train from Paddington which would bring you there at about money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Then, how do you know?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "How about poison?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the results." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "What then?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached late!' was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had night.' said he. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not You want to know what became of those geese?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Yes, certainly." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence in this note: "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Come in!" said Holmes. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Yes, that is the Crown." "Yes, he did." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such might have a private word with us. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they seven miles from Eyford Station.' will take you up to see the machine.' of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. unprecedented a position." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "I was afraid that you were engaged." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. believe that I should never have any practice at all. vault. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was more terrible than the truth. past. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the date of his supposed suicide." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the night.' the station." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." of the one which your family is now devouring." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their have had none more fantastic than this." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the business at Coburg Square is serious." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the laugh and put his lips to my ear. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the delighted to hear it," he said. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our asked. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Where, then, is my wife?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for