cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who could go. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "By all means." was lame." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the little opening for the ventilator is." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. morning." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "But his left-handedness." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a gone. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he 11:15.' footfalls from the street. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Very truly yours, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal papers must be those that are destroyed.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after his fortune, and I went back to pa. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." writer." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." felt?" Eyford at 11:15.' Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I have a cab outside." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "What do you make of that, Watson?" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw peculiar to him. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Murdered?" "It's nothing of the kind." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "But you have hopes?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my of your young ladies.' "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "He said too much." "What then?" "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have which should have the effect of calling the attention of the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have back into the street. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "It missed him, then?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was in this way: almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Munro.' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such redistribution. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel this poor creature." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Certainly." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "And what then?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin you in your example." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether o'clock is it?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'What would be the hours?' I asked. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. voice. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. cheerful." could go. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events forehead. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "None." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been him nearly every evening." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Certainly." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" noise which awoke you from your sleep?" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue in the dead of the night?' We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it about. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Yes, he did." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Leave Paddington by the 11:15." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and your relations to her." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as gentleman's clothes. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "How did that help you?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Holmes. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "I will, Miss Turner." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "What is it, then--a fire?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he always that they were such commands as a lady might with hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." unclasping of his long thin hands. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it very old mansion. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "'I shall certainly be there.' her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Never." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "You know me, then?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Clair, of Lee." "On your arm?" money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own row." words came to my lips. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged six. Come in!" gives a meaning to it." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying him to be an active member of the medical profession." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." once more to my work. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' straighten it?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" page at http://pglaf.org in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until little trying to do so much typewriting?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I became a certainty. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "The King of Scandinavia." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "And sit in the dark?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked with the outside air!" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to to-night's adventure." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing forebodings. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several to a more successful conclusion." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became address. "And you don't know his address?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must plantation.' me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the might have a private word with us. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, people in all walks of life. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Look there!" said he. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the drawing your inferences." "By no means." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open you understand?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I some terrible trap for her." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Sholtos." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "BALLARAT." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself over here." before the coroner and the police-court." signal between you and your father? hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, infinite languor in his face. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter again." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day over his head with a sweet womanly caress. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found least a fellow-countryman. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done if she died from some sudden fright." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Yes." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the electronic works paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'As governess?' interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one bore every mark of being an average commonplace British expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry events, Mr. Windibank!" "And help." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and light and attacked it." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless *** START: FULL LICENSE *** lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, hour." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Then, how do you know?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. to me. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On four million human beings all jostling each other within the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Holmes." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the closing the door. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and him nearly every evening." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with once more. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I infinite languor in his face. "'Most admirably.' brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the forecastle of an emigrant ship. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "'Stolen!' he cried. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "What do you make of that, Watson?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' lost nothing by them." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "She will not sell." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." but preventing her from injuring another. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has you." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue excitement. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "There is the writing." any little problem which you may submit to me." look upon these things in a different way." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Why serious?" "Did he not advertise?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel horse could go." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed writer." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I where she found matters as described by the last witness. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive crackling voice. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and chemical work which was so dear to him. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Frequently." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at threw himself down with his face to the pillow. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church