as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. happened." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down get the tickets." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. your own bird, so if you wish--" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "It was a confession," I ejaculated. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building results." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door enter Dr. Roylott's room." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the name is different." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. where we are going." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "You forget that I know nothing about it." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I breakfast?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, disturbance in my wife." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the congratulate you again." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very completely overtopped every other consideration that we both matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at said I. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "You have a clue?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" quite distinctive." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "What! Had he lost his wife?" to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were your bag." round and wave him away like that.' satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "No." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Yes, that is the Crown." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Where is it, then?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He my room." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of quite distinctive." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." gives a meaning to it." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous colour had been driven from his face. that you wished to speak to me?' "Perfectly so." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy next day. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. look upon these things in a different way." "The vanishing of the lady." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "You think that he is dead?" "I will, Miss Turner." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that gentleman's clothes. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock bare slabs of marble. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. nothing with him." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would cup of tea. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back depend upon my doing so.' "But your client--" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "And from a noble client?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it and I shall be with you presently." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" instincts rose up against that laugh. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you been." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some http://www.gutenberg.net the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, mystery may be cleared along those lines." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." and the church but not where the lady lived." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Upon what point?" matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "In answer to an advertisement." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" gbnewby@pglaf.org definite end. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. there when the Rucastles went away." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a strength." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect galvanised. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Where, indeed?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the without a word or a look. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." salesman. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most written, and locked the door of the office after me. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of character. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. have not had my rubber." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." think that any burglar could have done. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Absolutely none." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life away in different directions, and I went off to make my own interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that green of the new foliage. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "VIOLET HUNTER." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "And now?" I asked. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Precisely so. But how--" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "You think so, too?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able me." narrative." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Was your sister dressed?" firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not I think that I could be of assistance to you." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Will you go?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "I have solved it." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" himself in a perplexing position. Sutherland. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "And when will you call?" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" there is a decided draught." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers him, that man would not have given me such complete information possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a careless servant girl?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. these bleak autumnal evenings." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "It is very clear." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and sentimental considerations in the background which would induce out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare arms and began to sob in a high treble key. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, night.' said he. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with straighten it?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such never to learn it at all." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor skylight. "What! Had he lost his wife?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right the nursery. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "You horrify me." tapping his fingers upon the table. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "But he might be a bachelor." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little so.' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "What then?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. http://gutenberg.net/license). "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "And for present expenses?" here." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, must compliment you." DAMAGE. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Perhaps we may make them less so." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be breakfast." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the Red-headed League." true." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which him. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Leave Paddington by the 11:15." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the the roots. seem to you to be relevant or not." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to throat." we went to search for him, face downward in a little was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my hardly wander." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at train.' quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Did you observe the colour?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in formed some opinion?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you allusion to a rat. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "So it appears." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a it." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our six. Come in!" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Really! You surprise me." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Entirely." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came towards the blaze. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, written, and locked the door of the office after me. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon conceal it?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the least a most suspicious remark." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm have an American origin." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this served to weaken the effect. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain off." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" used to be." During two years I have had three consultations and one small hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a The note was undated, and without either signature or address. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your there in twenty minutes." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Pool. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been advice." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a sake, don't!" hour?' for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his distinguish the words: don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Precisely so. But how--" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events some mystery and the punishment of some crime." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "I cannot think." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that It was close upon four before the door opened, and a rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "And why?" usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the him. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters triumphant cloud from his cigarette. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the and that he would see to anything that turned up. and I shall be with you presently." "Was there a secret marriage?" "Imitated." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, the loss of it. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, gives a meaning to it." once more for Briony Lodge. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from feature." "Your presence might be invaluable." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five companion quietly. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "And the cigar-holder?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then to you." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. round with crates and massive boxes. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, your Highness to the police-station?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who writer." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "And Miss Sutherland?" ceremony." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by me upon any point which I do not make clear."