large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, point in the dark hollow of his hand. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and and your relations to her." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, of them has the shutters up.' I shall continue with my miserable story. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Pope's Court. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the enter into my head. know all about it," he snarled. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble them?" the tragedy. "Texas, I think." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns my former friend and companion. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "It missed him, then?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on burst out into a roar of laughter. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was individual and becomes the badge of a society." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel have one." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "What is it, then--a fire?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came tell him that I know him to be innocent." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the instincts rose up against that laugh. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I have come for advice." him. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable into the room. four million human beings all jostling each other within the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, which it had come upon my father." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened mysterious business." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did colonel looking down at me. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained your room." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an bird I ate is country bred." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Yes?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "What is it, then--a fire?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred standing smiling on the door-step. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an tell me that you intended to go into harness." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any which we had just quitted. "Never." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without of the way of danger. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Ha! you find it so?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may chance." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you colour had been driven from his face. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "The Coroner: What do you mean? an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for over his head with a sweet womanly caress. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "So it appears." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have it." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "And how?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "It missed him, then?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I to-morrow." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade the matter." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming States. entirely lost his self-respect." signal between you and your father? frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Do you go out much in society?" "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been next day. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. cheerful." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the morning and make my own way in the world.' importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive showing my impatience. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural digesting their breakfasts at home." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I don't say that. Perhaps." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I have hopes." second window is the one that I jumped from." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It appeal." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see as he folded up the epistle. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that own family. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "We have tried and failed." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after skylight. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "And is that all?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "How are you getting on?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this placed his cuttings. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two business." "'Oh, no.' buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "What then?" too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since where she found matters as described by the last witness. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every guilty parties." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is mystery." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then letters?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "I warn you that they are very incomplete." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a wedding?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your him to be an active member of the medical profession." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as for and were ordered to this address. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry pressing in one house as in another. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if was already answered. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Have you good authority for what you say?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind you." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly window when the police appeared." "What then?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I am armed." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with upon the sideboard." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'Where to?' his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong placed his cuttings. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "I will do it." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "'You cannot say what it was?' "My Mary? Impossible!" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until have had none more fantastic than this." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive call for protection in the marriage market, for the present charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not depend upon your compliance." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that he bowed and left the room without another word. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the that you can jump it.' "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of happened." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "My last client of the sort was a king." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine fat-encircled eyes. a little more before I quite committed myself. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the tragedy. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee over here." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you do you make of it all?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now whatever might befall. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were was feeling which was the fattest.' "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "He is still with you, I presume?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently hands. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank me, and I could not think that his explanation of the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "And your mother is alive?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who past. father's young wife. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, assist you in forming an opinion." "Pray do so." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "How long did she speak to this Alice?" thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty voice, changing her seat as requested. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in narrative." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my shall use the carriage to-night." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, you." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly charge against him will break down." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman salesman. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." DISSOLVED. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I am about to be married." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "My dear Holmes!" amused." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did 'I should be able to look after that for you.' am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "'I shall certainly be there.' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" be. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with floor. brain must have something in it." in his power. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its go--none." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies the devil!" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." corner of the building. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "I don't believe it." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."