confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to chamber." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the upon a handsome competence. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Never." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if if I call to-morrow?" better grown goose." "Yes." "We must have a cab." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "I will get her to show me." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I hour." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at like that before?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst upon the shelf for the interim." writer." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Did he not advertise?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in whether it answered to the description of any of their glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." London for the present?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "A greater distance to travel." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full in this note: matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "None." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to present strange and interesting features that it is no easy away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Dr. Gregory B. Newby very old mansion. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Oh, yes, easily." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs noise which awoke you from your sleep?" some terrible trap for her." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Not social, then?" tell me that you intended to go into harness." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "You have a clue?" remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Imitated." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "How on earth--" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the whereabouts. you, my dear young lady?' form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "And now?" I asked. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary have accepted such a situation. Sutherland?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Leave Paddington by the 11:15." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem with you?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs sofa. This way, please!" forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and crackling voice. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years But Holmes shook his head gravely. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Yes, I have one waiting." criminal. We have already had experience of such." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average chill to my heart. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the vanished into the darkness. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "None." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Where does the thing come from?' research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "But you have hopes?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "It is half-past ten now." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" power." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would in a very precise fashion." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try annoyance, but no jest. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is thought that she would have been so carried away." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the eavesdroppers?' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "I am in hopes that she does." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of mystery!" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own enter into my head. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as London for the present?" "'Ample.' "'Never.' occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he presented more singular features than that which was associated glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "And I to find an enemy." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "In what way?" asked Holmes. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "'Most admirably.' Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had God! What an exposure! What can I do?" as this. Pray let me have the details." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the weapon." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time papers." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg village inn over there?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. or in danger--" the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was works. See paragraph 1.E below. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had of the vacancies.' repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned late." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "But the mystery?" half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "This concluded the examination of the witness." hurried by. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Upon what point?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over overpowering excitement and concern. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Holmes' room. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Have you good authority for what you say?" felt the room to be a little close.' rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking then?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a But Holmes shook his head gravely. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, will he say when he returns?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "If so, much may have happened between." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote suggested at once that there must be a communication between the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "And sit in the dark?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "It's nothing of the kind." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a him to be an active member of the medical profession." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Oh, fresh and glossy." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always good-night and bustled off upon her way. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "I am sure." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, during the last few years, and there are many noble families to impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little had picked up in the wood. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which you do it in twenty minutes!' "Thank you. And your address?" and all of them with the keenest interest. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Not I." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," future lives." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite strode off upon his way. lumber-room." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman but preventing her from injuring another. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met you give your casting vote to?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "And I to find an enemy." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you help us in this matter." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "You think that he is dead?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Not I." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "'Ample.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Breckinridge is his name." "Not social, then?" "That was it, sir." "And Miss Sutherland?" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "And how did you find out?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "It surprised me." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and it." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to go into your room and bar your shutters?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'Yes, I promise.' collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time is," said he presently: advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. congratulate you again." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in with you?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "What have you done?" asked Holmes. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Why, what do you mean?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which outsides of the windows. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and prepare for the new role I have to play." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. note?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "How did you deduce the select?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper page at http://pglaf.org travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Here?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Pope's Court, Fleet Street." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things.