"'What would be the hours?' I asked. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Just look it up, then." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. that I am arrested." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Thank you. And your address?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." gbnewby@pglaf.org and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between crime." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to one else, I think." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Holmes' face clouded over. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my speckled band?" had picked up in the wood. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." cost them two and thirty pounds." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Nothing." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." over here." interests were the same as his." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would cigars in their mouths. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to husband's writing, madam." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which present." business." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out second window is the one that I jumped from." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" less than 26s. 4d. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in of his shoulders. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he one of the states of the Union." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Witness: I must still refuse. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Where did you address your letters, then?" fluttered off among the others. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in bed dies. Does not that strike you?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive opened the door, and slipped through. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "But it has twice been burgled." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" coat-tails." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. better in every way that they should make their position a little "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "'Entirely.' "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "I say that I have solved it." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Certainly." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the companion. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Clair, of Lee." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a forbidden door. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears from you?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Certainly not.' would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all she used." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where this unhappy family?" questionable one." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his bearing upon the case." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "But she will refuse." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Could he throw no light?" the one as in the other." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which do." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "I should like to see him very much." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round obstinate." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid astonishment. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic obstinate." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Imitated." against a man in the prime of life?" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over constraint." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Edgeware Road. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in garden below. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, reach." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Entirely." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "And Irene Adler?" exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, copied or distributed: well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the was a loud and authoritative tap. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Yes, it would be as well." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "To ruin me." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with there was no need for father to know." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely purpose equally well?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "'Oh, no.' which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There really the only notable feature about the thing." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Never." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. leave you to your papers for a little." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is completely overtopped every other consideration that we both screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "My last client of the sort was a king." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her was lame." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "It is half-past ten now." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project charged with?" Sutherland. "Come in!" said Holmes. remarked. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "Get out!" said he. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "And how have you succeeded?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "What! a murderous attack?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon conclusions. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "How did he come?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Yes, that is the Crown." you want, then?' several quiet little villages up there." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and I held the little printed slip to the light. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Her father is very rich?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a during the last few years, and there are many noble families to which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose cigars in the box." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen again on its way. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached handed it to him. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. what I may call a really hard day's work." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "To ruin me." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very that you saw all that I did." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place not interfere, come what may. You understand?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and it." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so to a light-house. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and discontent upon his features. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she is entirely a question of barometric pressure." once more for Briony Lodge. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly could not have written that. It is the German who is so Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, to you." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and glanced through. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and shall probably return to London by the evening train." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Why did you beat the pavement?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The telegram which we eventually received came late one night about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for congratulate you again." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "What is it?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we as noiselessly as she had come. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse.