am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Always." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just nothing of it?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, all that?" and wait." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" hardly wander." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It do." like gravel from a pit.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "I think it very unlikely." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "My photograph." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "ARAT," I read. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed chambers. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I your own bird, so if you wish--" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for some terrible trap for her." when you have done it." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "A client, then?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. should be taken.' my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the station." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have served to weaken the effect. "I am in hopes that she does." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "But you can know nothing of this?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" Holmes' room. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Stoke Moran." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each I took the paper from him and read as follows: touch that coronet?' quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that lost nothing by them." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of business?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and crowd. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are light and attacked it." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Thank you. Pray proceed." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where mystery!" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "You have a clue?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his place of silver." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the joking. "I came to find a friend." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. been able to understand it, in a very few words. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid goes." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious for its centre. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the business?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." have got?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "What then?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "I was sure that I might rely on you." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which which was all perfectly true. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, This is what he says: happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Yes." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free death." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb handed it to him. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," has little to do with my story." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Whose house is it?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads he. carried out of court." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, it." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'Oh, no.' "Proceed, then." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our started for the Temple to see my husband. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much indeed which he could not unravel. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of." "What is it?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little official police." "I have my revolver," said I. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "It surprised me." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my said Mr. Holder. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are gigantic client. to-night's adventure." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At felt?" for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I am to be neutral?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly weighed down with some great anxiety. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "And you can do nothing until then?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So than to us. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he call it cruel." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Was the window open?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, later, upon the night of May 2nd." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of III. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense http://gutenberg.net/license). "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "And what then?" stepfather?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. carpenter." up this clue while it is still hot." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. interested in these little problems, and since you are good heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Then, how do you know?" fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, your Highness to the police-station?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after character. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Mrs. Toller serenely. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "At the wedding breakfast." "He slept on the premises." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project shoulder; "he's all right." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." Holmes. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important directors have had misgivings upon the subject." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this whatever might befall. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was emerged. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Pray do so." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very business?" morning." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used such person." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for you understand?" her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each appeal." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "But your client--" "How many? I don't know." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Lestrade of Scotland Yard." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can way in everything. "You did not overhear what they said?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his peculiar to him. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "'I shall certainly be there.' rooms." made him keep the appointment." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "None." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "And the murderer?" of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you you do it in twenty minutes!' mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, obstinate." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a could not have written that. It is the German who is so again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his of his shoulders. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the telegram would bring me down to your help." "It is a murder, then?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the strength." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the tragedy. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Mary, has deserted me." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Street. easy-going way." as noiselessly as she had come. 11:15.' woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple think, you have already met." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view wedding?" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "It's nothing of the kind." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something business in the City. She little knew what. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon you." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "That you are never beaten."