bled considerably." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "A call for help, you thought?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Not I." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon morning." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great someone who had been in Australia." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Yes." married her." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple unprecedented a position." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "A confidential servant?" "I should wish to." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "What!" he roared. McCarthy's innocence. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to meant." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "There are none." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Mrs. Toller serenely. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "He is still with you, I presume?" "Were they all fastened this morning?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Very murderous indeed." "I was sure that I might rely on you." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "My dear Holmes!" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I cannot tell." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Holmes' thin, eager face. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been could not have written that. It is the German who is so adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." breakfast." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his records." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Her father is very rich?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, believe that I should never have any practice at all. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said bare slabs of marble. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird http://gutenberg.net/license). through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the Lee, in the county of Kent." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the answer." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been answer." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "In what way?" asked Holmes. shall use the carriage to-night." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away even so self-evident a thing as that." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the conclusions. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you three fields round his house, and there he would take his penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most stammered. "Yes, from Horsham." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. to-morrow." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I was afraid that you were engaged." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the a very grave face. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the lamp in his hand. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as down in his armchair and closing his eyes. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' hurried away. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the fishes. "'What do you call purely nominal?' work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "What office?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "On Monday." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of because she had spent so short a time in this country that she this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your like gravel from a pit.' "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." touch that coronet?' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Yes, certainly." "And I." "You know me, then?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "And leave your case unfinished?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Just look it up, then." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "And when will you call?" bell. Holmes whistled. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do noble correspondent could be. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "No. What a strange idea!" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "You did not overhear what they said?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "And Irene Adler?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own front of me. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an said he. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of down from London to inquire more deeply into it." is acting for the best. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was vanished into the darkness. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and The police have openly confessed that they can at present make of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a troubles have been weighing upon his mind. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." him to go away.' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which and the colonel ushered me in. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "You think that he is dead?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the indeed happy." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a papers must be those that are destroyed.' four million human beings all jostling each other within the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "And how did he make his money?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Henry Baker is a member." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Has he come with you to-night?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. thin legs towards the fire. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I I think that I could be of assistance to you." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you for its centre. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "You have the photograph?" plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Come in!" said he. bird of prey. had a long day." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Tired-looking or fresh?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I breakfast?" an introduction to him?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He to a more successful conclusion." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond were wasted." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, think you a quite exceptional woman." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Really! You surprise me." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "No." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "What, then?" hand, madam?" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "We must sit without light. He would see it through the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. she to prove their authenticity?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his up this clue while it is still hot." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "'And the work?' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and clang of the bell. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Precisely so. But how--" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch outside. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "But how will you look?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Not I." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his wedding?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Lestrade of Scotland Yard." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. it. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little during that time.' ashen face. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "I don't say that. Perhaps." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Ha! you find it so?" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to of the efforts of the United States government and of the better means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am away to you." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "It was a confession," I ejaculated. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the very morning of the wedding." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am morning." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. affair. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "No." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Come in!" said Holmes. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All here and I will read it to you: and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by through." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Yes." I. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather trifles." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should