paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Stoke Moran." humiliation." "And why?" room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I It may be so in this case, also." matters immensely." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making there has been an enclosure here!" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it whole matter to your consideration." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" orange pips. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too ways of our fellow-men." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know tell him that I know him to be innocent." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel made his money." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed and shall probably return to London by the evening train." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that said he. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the dangers which encompass me." "I am following you closely," I answered. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Really! You surprise me." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever that, and I came down." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Dr. Gregory B. Newby amused." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which light and attacked it." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his My friend smiled. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "What, then?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." throat." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we main points of my analysis." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "But who is he?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson Heh?' "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a be.' myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect business matters.' so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is habit of advancing money.' you." all-comprehensive glances. my friend's incisive reasoning. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside from the brougham. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers closing the door. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips meant." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Street. fishes. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your tell them apart.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "That is unusual in a young girl." acted in my house last night?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight outside." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of for securing the situation." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so nice household for a young lady." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable there." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" handed it to him. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed south, for the country is more deserted there." "'Where to?' as he folded up the epistle. go from here to the Strand." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he see a sister of mine apply for." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I answered that I had not. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the directors, with the result that you have seen." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Have you her photograph?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "What then?" "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of written, and locked the door of the office after me. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'A dozen yards or so.' chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "It is no ordinary one." experiences." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "And it is--" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "But you would not advise me to refuse?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "But I have heard all that you have heard." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The that you wished to speak to me?' can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who bore every mark of being an average commonplace British eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, him!" all?" "None. Neville wrote those words." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. here." "You did not overhear what they said?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was was it brought him the coronet? society." which we had just quitted. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is once more for Briony Lodge. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Eh? What was that?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "His face fell immediately. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest key of the affair now." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his appointment with me for six o'clock?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a could go. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a know that the truth is known." is four-and-twenty." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't lost nothing by them." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking get the tickets." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he it." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "That is also quite modern," said the lady. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the armchair which I pushed forward for him. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this during which he might have communicated with his friend the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind events, Mr. Windibank!" "We must have a cab." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about became a certainty. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to sentimental considerations in the background which would induce others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned fatally injured? platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from wife's character?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the dangers which encompass me." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included himself to tell his story. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied a little more before I quite committed myself. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange mystery!" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. and inquire as to the address." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Lee, in the county of Kent." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Henry Baker is a member." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began prisoner's face. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." upon the sideboard." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she chance." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Your sister is dead, then?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "'I am sure that I do not know.' them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "But you would not advise me to refuse?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked what is your own theory as to what took place?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. look upon these things in a different way." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so matter." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Frequently." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, note?" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Awake, Watson?" he asked. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have established a very serious case against the son of the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood followed. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but there were so many in the whole country as were brought together another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you your equipment. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs said he. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know forbidden door. night.' said he. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." wedding?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? http://www.gutenberg.net it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. the child." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with me where it went to?" "Absolutely none." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "'Is purely nominal.' deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching absorbing." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk children over to America with him, so that I found myself without could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was window when the police appeared." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by overpowering excitement and concern. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "And I to find an enemy." "I am to be neutral?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I intimate personal affairs in this public manner." brandy and water within his reach. October 9, 1890. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off danger is over." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Breckinridge is his name." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Where does the thing come from?' upon the shelf for the interim." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this young Openshaw's." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the your bag." foresight and the moral retrogression?" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Because he was handy and would come cheap." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do might help us?" gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "May I see it?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the coronet in his hand?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Where did he live, then?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Yes." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid you?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "When did she vanish, then?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was