relation between them, and what the object of his repeated husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "It is very kind of you." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, if I call to-morrow?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and on re-entering her father's house?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the dangers which encompass me." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which all?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "We must sit without light. He would see it through the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and few hundred pounds.' so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. direction." views." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Whose house is it?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of help us in this matter." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' following enigmatical notices: confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I McCarthy." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works I am not easy in my mind about them." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. reach." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" should be taken.' is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "And now?" He raised his hand. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to me what he had done with the three missing stones. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "No legal papers or certificates?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "But you can know nothing of this?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no page at http://pglaf.org been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. to tell." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. when you have done it." "I shall be delighted." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "And you thought he was pulled back?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Do you know him?" "Thank you. And your address?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "My photograph." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Yes." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the roots. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless as this. Pray let me have the details." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became back to my heart. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and matters immensely." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your wedding?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by infinite languor in his face. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for matter." them?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I am still in the dark." sooner or later she must fall a victim. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Heh?' article?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She chance at all." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City will he say when he returns?" His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "You are all wrong." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend without a word or a look. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Proceed, then." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "No. His orders were to stay in the house." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "And is that all?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I will try. What is it?" "Then I can wait in the next room." here." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me front of the hall door has given its name to the place. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another colonel looking down at me. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and so.' I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my anything to a woman, for she would have her way." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "'Certainly not.' particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. evidence," I remarked. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Ample." "One of the highest in England." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused the coroner come to?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "How did that help you?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "So I have heard." not within a twentieth part of the market price." "She will not sell." she might be summoned. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were fear." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "No legal papers or certificates?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan hard-headed British jury." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "What! Had he lost his wife?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the child." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "It is his hat." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was them?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' recall any case within my experience which looked at the first pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Come in!" said he. your equipment. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll was already answered. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "'You cannot say what it was?' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "But what is it you wish?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I answer." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I forecastle of an emigrant ship. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" call the police, let the police find what they can.' "'A dozen yards or so.' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, at my own good fortune. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "You think that he is dead?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement least a most suspicious remark." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the foresight and the moral retrogression?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "I cannot say that I have." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their quickly through a disagreeable task. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. she to prove their authenticity?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the or in danger--" them?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little indeed happy." call it cruel." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, clanging. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." said he at last. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." nonsense.' "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "I will get her to show me." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic lumber-room." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to as he folded up the epistle. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that cause to be." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the back to my heart. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "And why in hopes?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I would give my fortune to have them back." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the salesman. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent me have 200 pounds?' "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Ten will be early enough." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as article?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "No, thank goodness, she did not." him and tried to hold him back. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, strength." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed which our visitor detailed to us. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Miss Holder?" anything to a woman, for she would have her way." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My if I call to-morrow?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose third from London." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, you?" few hundred pounds.' Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman carpenter." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Street. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes hands. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His way in." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made awkward doing business with an alias." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step in your London, you will know that the office of the company is off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "By no means." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side his wife has ceased to love him." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a details." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "It must be recovered." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical disappearance of these gems?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."