even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come that?' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "By all means." my friend's incisive reasoning. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" absorbing." "Holmes, the busybody!" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the companion. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had she to prove their authenticity?" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "I don't say that. Perhaps." Lee, in the county of Kent." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was awkward doing business with an alias." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire prison!" even so self-evident a thing as that." bill, which interests me deeply." in this note: never came back." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate would then never go into court at all." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case joking. "Nothing?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant you." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in over with notes and figures. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "I am to be neutral?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "None." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "And why?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" a few minutes he said that it would be all right. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first which we had just quitted. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first obstinate." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter as he folded up the epistle. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Your sister is dead, then?" the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the matters immensely." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "And you thought he was pulled back?" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers you want, then?' a suggestive one." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "I came to find a friend." less than 26s. 4d. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Has he come with you to-night?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. tail." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter showing my impatience. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you of fine shops and stately business premises that they really the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced Munro.' giving me time to thank him. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers been." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. ceremony." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "What steps will you take?" I asked. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public during that time.' written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "But not more so than I to find you." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Which are?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Very. But will he see it?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by to talk it over. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to system of imprisonment?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little fait accompli?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. a suggestive one." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after chair. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who presume?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Get out!" said he. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. said I. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" disturbance in my wife." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "I cannot as yet see any connection." "None. Neville wrote those words." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side them?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be door?" there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is possible that we could bring him back to her? waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Yes, the wine-cellar." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has photograph a cabinet?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, jewels which you have stolen?' case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to trying to your nerves." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, said I. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "One?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "And you don't know his address?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party weigh very heavily upon my conscience." indeed which he could not unravel. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' and laid it on the table. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it fled together." hurried by. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's light and attacked it." "Stolen, then." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Come in!" said Holmes. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my to-night's adventure." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have October 9, 1890. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I will do it." will not take me long to tell. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Yes." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard pierced for earrings?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an feature." a monotonous occupation." that he has suffered." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction drawing your inferences." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" companion quietly. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since obstinate." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think indiscretion." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police you want, then?' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK the coroner come to?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! stammered. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." said he. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Well, but China?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I have come for advice." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure guilty parties." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "But it has twice been burgled." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "But you were on a friendly footing?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Stolen!' he cried. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was questionable one." strength." to-night?" I asked. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention once more on the important position which you have been fortunate But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Deserted you?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "My own seal." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is views." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I upon the sideboard." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between meanly of me." "Stolen, then." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "And now?" I asked. criminal. We have already had experience of such." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "And why?" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Could he throw no light?" "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord forbidden door. "Did he not advertise?" one's self under obligations.' He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It instincts rose up against that laugh. "But I am all in the dark." "I shall be delighted." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "I see no marks." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "An enemy?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott floor. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and you do it in twenty minutes!' "I cannot as yet see any connection." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at empty. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his in my life." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different already referred to. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, quickly through a disagreeable task. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." only touch the interest." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Ha! you find it so?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Just look it up, then." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, of your young ladies.'