hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "You horrify me!" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "I have solved it." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "'Certainly not.' town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I cannot imagine." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "How often?" Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "At half-wages, in fact." "How often?" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial despaired of." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if to a light-house. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Your French gold?" "Precisely." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that people don't know." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "I never have." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "He said that you could solve anything." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong fasten all the windows?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. ordinary clothes on?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." to-night's adventure." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of in one or two places in England?' anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's sufficient punishment." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of I took the paper from him and read as follows: across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "You are all wrong." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally more solid." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "And the cigar-holder?" he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Dr. Gregory B. Newby I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from official police." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what bed dies. Does not that strike you?" of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "I cannot think." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' than was visible to me." "What then?" would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "No, I had a dozen." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned you give your casting vote to?" "You think so, too?" hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "So I have heard." "Then I am your man." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how mysterious end." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in cup of tea. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all recall any case within my experience which looked at the first is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Cross for the Continent." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a This is what he says: "It surprised me." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at would then never go into court at all." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would in a friendly supper." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. himself in a perplexing position. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham whole matter to your consideration." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon went to the Alpha were town bred." trying to your nerves." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "'Certainly,' I answered. that?' had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Thank you. And your address?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this outsides of the windows. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." see me here to avoid scandal." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did was a perfect sample of the class. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "They are typewritten," I remarked. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, companion. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "He slept on the premises." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "And sit in the dark?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "How many? I don't know." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought certainly not very gracious." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Did he not advertise?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of wife's character?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold bare slabs of marble. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own have established a very serious case against the son of the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the chill to my heart. "No. What a strange idea!" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Certainly." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "They are typewritten," I remarked. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a address. comes from the middle window." the warnings." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased fait accompli?" from you?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "If so, much may have happened between." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss his huge brown hands. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the was not a bird to be seen there. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "It was an hour's good drive." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he other means.' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "One of his hands." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, returning from some small jollification and was making his way Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "'What do you call purely nominal?' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for even so self-evident a thing as that." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "What do you mean?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "What have you to say now?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in people in all walks of life. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Then I am your man." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Did you observe the colour?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Of what?" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet to a light-house. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. hands. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door results." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them sufficient punishment." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, coat-tails." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely mysterious business." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "So I am. Very much so." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless galvanised. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence said he at last. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from meanly of me." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a brain must have something in it." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I crowd. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger him nearly every evening." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things tear off another piece?' letters?" attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their returned to France?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey closing the door. been with you?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "But how?" "Very murderous indeed." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "'Stolen!' he cried. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power stammered. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The it. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which