"We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End formed some opinion?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "And now?" He raised his hand. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the words came to my lips. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the sparkled upon his finger. when you have done it." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'Yes.' Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." fire. You quite follow me?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes guilty parties." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If unkempt, staring out at me. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We What do you deduce from it?" "My opinion is in no way altered." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by salesman. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right that go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A he died? to where he stood hid behind the curtain. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, said he. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think The telegram which we eventually received came late one night waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and at a side door. "They are typewritten," I remarked. DAMAGE. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. rose-bushes. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "'Which dealer's?' as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "In what way?" asked Holmes. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through acquaintance?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and despaired of." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by thin, with a long, sharp nose?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "But of what society?" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the driver. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that in one or two places in England?' never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate as the one I chose?' I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "And who is her maid?" "That is possible." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new attention." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the get the tickets." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she the best of training." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. if I call to-morrow?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "'Most admirably.' I have it here in my museum." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional is a common subject for conversation. "And what then?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." character. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a a suggestive one." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for maid will bring up your coffee." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Pray tell us what has happened to you." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Then, as to money?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, sake, don't!" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "10th. John Swain cleared. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "How did you trace it, then?" have one." them?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon where we are going." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those obstinate." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the forehead. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch The summons was a brief and urgent one. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "By all means." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "What, then, did Peterson do?" disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to companion. case before our client came into the room." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "It is true that I have been generally successful." is so. I know all about McCarthy." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the absorbing." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Entirely." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Never." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "No, but the enclosure is." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. trying to your nerves." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so of your young ladies.' from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Not social, then?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not his grey eyes. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "No, my brougham is waiting." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Leadenhall Street--and--" credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "And I." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, little trying to do so much typewriting?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Always." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Did you observe the colour?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, extraordinary contortions. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind hardly wander." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "It is possible." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with said he at last. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "I have hopes." Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "You horrify me!" in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "When did it break out?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "It was." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he flock.' the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the the stable lane now." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "None." photograph?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," I was concerned in it." "I cannot think." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by ventilator." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly even of instruction." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "How did you trace it, then?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. notes," he said. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must must compliment you." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to be sorry for having acted so harshly." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty forecastle of an emigrant ship. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'It is locked up,' I answered. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that we could bring him back to her? many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Was she in good spirits?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "And what then?" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and the whole place is in a blaze." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these second window is the one that I jumped from." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one during that time.' We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Yes, certainly." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He whereabouts. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only your equipment. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes throat." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Yes, it was twisted." "No, I am descending." Sutherland. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Yes." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I that he has suffered." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I have an American origin." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Very well, sir. And this stone?" had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had of." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "I saw her in conversation with her maid." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet sake, don't!" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom not come at once?" "Breckinridge is his name." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the ceiling. rooms." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we colonel looking down at me. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to The summons was a brief and urgent one. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan been." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" standing smiling on the door-step. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and