a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs yards of it?' kind enough to tell me what I should do." for the market.' "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'About the same.' have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had side. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' me where it went to?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the one which it was hard to resist. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other of receipt of the work. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, in a very precise fashion." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. is a common subject for conversation. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had writer." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how the King without delay." mystery may be cleared along those lines." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell jewels which you have stolen?' inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." round and wave him away like that.' these bleak autumnal evenings." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Eyford." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Then I shall certainly come." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "Which are?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not that I can to serve you." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "How do you know, then?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Well?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "How did he come?" of the one which your family is now devouring." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' gigantic client. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined are, and they are waiting for us." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 was once confined in the cab my mission was practically and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to have been novel and of interest." "Well, some hundreds of times." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Proceed, then." opened the door, and slipped through. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "The Coroner: What do you mean? to Leatherhead. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "But of what society?" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." of your young ladies.' goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing of the vacancies.' "The landlord of the Alpha." "Did you observe the colour?" to a light-house. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, you." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I any little problem which you may submit to me." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who pierced for earrings?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching my secret was safe in his possession. "'Never.' feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but retorted upon me, and I on you." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" of his shoulders. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from of." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary future lives." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest next day. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. question," said Holmes, smiling. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn dates and names. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have is worth.' "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was is so. I know all about McCarthy." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I will, Miss Turner." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "'It is locked up,' I answered. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he room?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'Yes.' it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Ha! you find it so?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and allusion to a rat. outbreak?" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, out." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, will take you up to see the machine.' this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." mystery may be cleared along those lines." will he say when he returns?" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Perfectly so." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the that I may have something better before very many minutes are before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his During two years I have had three consultations and one small and capable of preserving a secret.' and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at room. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I returned to France?" approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from foresight and the moral retrogression?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am come either from the window or the door. My attention was police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "How did you trace it, then?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that the stable lane now." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Well, some hundreds of times." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second foot. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some business at Coburg Square is serious." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and carriage. It was a chestnut." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, may never be exposed to such a temptation." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "In answer to an advertisement." this Miss Turner." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the house for five minutes.' "And is that all?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to here and I will read it to you: beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" read over the extraordinary announcement. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which awaited us upon the table. in darkness. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier felt the room to be a little close.' McCarthy." guilty parties." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when writing, and yet I know it well." know that the truth is known." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I at a side door. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in with her." back into the street. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson business in the City. She little knew what. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with train.' through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. been shamefully used." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that certainly not very gracious." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I disturbance in my wife." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future with her." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Well, some hundreds of times." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom at a side door. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever joking. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she business?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some of receipt of the work. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep head. So long, then!" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "And what then?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "No, I had a dozen." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows relation between them, and what the object of his repeated you understand?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "And you thought he was pulled back?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, them?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I any more." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Why? What do you mean?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to closing the door. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." about. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking already been minutely examined." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been pound a week." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong visitors." Lee, in the county of Kent." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary once more for Briony Lodge. "Of what?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Pool. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have and wait." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the nonsense.' "Where, then, is my wife?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Sholtos." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their you give your casting vote to?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies instincts rose up against that laugh. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." him to be an active member of the medical profession."