brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "But he might be a bachelor." "No sign of it?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Did he not advertise?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "That you are never beaten." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Get out!" said he. nice household for a young lady." wedding?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it eat it." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, the inner apartment." "There are none." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands of fine shops and stately business premises that they really side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "I cannot tell." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Is he quiet?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether them?" Holmes' thin, eager face. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize lamp. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "On your arm?" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. take the flies, but not before." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the enter Dr. Roylott's room." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Nearly eleven." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and congratulate you again." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. that I can to serve you." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into certainly do as you advise." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "It must be recovered." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, imbecility!" he cried. system of imprisonment?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some frequently gained my first real insight into the character of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'What would be the hours?' I asked. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute peculiar to him. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I have solved it." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another lamp. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and Surrey." "What can you not understand?" to his chemical studies. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it this poor creature." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on your co-operation." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this least a fellow-countryman. straightened it out again. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of would apply.' "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" important." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and crowd. I. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the good for you to do.' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." should be taken.' "The vanishing of the lady." "Her father is very rich?" wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I it? Did I buy the geese off you?" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' late!' be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Yes." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked dates and names. "'Yes, I promise.' examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if photograph?" "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "I fear not." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to went to the Alpha were town bred." be. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking furiously. "Not him." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "No legal papers or certificates?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'Never.' has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Is he quiet?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." that I can to serve you." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. happened." and your relations to her." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had someone who had been in Australia." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Precisely." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, round and wave him away like that.' see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw of the one which your family is now devouring." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in what is your own theory as to what took place?" Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'Yes, sir.' grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the out." "Yes, it would be as well." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all that he has suffered." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." one of them." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "I am all attention, madam." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It giving me time to thank him. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. But Holmes shook his head gravely. companion. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the iron safe, which he closed upon it. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "It is very clear." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Not in a good cause." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced you understand?" it right.' "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "None." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, meant." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' golden eyeglasses. gone. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "It is a murder, then?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "And how did he make his money?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. in this way: really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout prison!" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "On your arm?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence you want, then?' views." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "'Not at all. I only doubt--' problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague only touch the interest." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." to a more successful conclusion." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and and glanced through. business?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." emerged. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Mrs. Toller serenely. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of see a sister of mine apply for." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project appeal." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know chemical work which was so dear to him. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Yes." indeed which he could not unravel. "But she will refuse." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight heavily into it. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Not him." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Holmes' face clouded over. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "What can you not understand?" if she died from some sudden fright." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "What of the rat, then?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "'Yes, sir.' to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up bearing upon the case." second." ordinary clothes on?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Yes, only one." "Has he come with you to-night?" "Eh? What was that?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. your Highness to the police-station?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful morning." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Watson," he said cordially. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been ago." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "I have come for advice." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. ordinary clothes on?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Pope's Court, Fleet Street." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between least a fellow-countryman. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat Street. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his away to you." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and with you?" For additional contact information: and all of them with the keenest interest. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem forehead. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "No, distinctly professional." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "So I have heard." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had upon an income of about 60 pounds." "I have hopes." Countess of Morcar's?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Has he come with you to-night?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and face and glided from the room. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. lamp. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez