Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "My dear Holmes!" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps must be when I saw the door open.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door not, dad?" she asked. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. are windows in it, of course?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, my brougham is waiting." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man the inquest, and which are worth considering." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the house with me." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "You did not overhear what they said?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." not come at once?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Where, then?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your of his shoulders. straighten it?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "But what harm can there be in that?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies derbies." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend an introduction to him?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, presented more singular features than that which was associated frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting intimate personal affairs in this public manner." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and investigation." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look fled together." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said than was visible to me." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came galvanised. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have For additional contact information: his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' eat it." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this formed some opinion?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his to me. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, what these perils are?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know horse could go." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "An enemy?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his father's place of business?" "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in unprofitable." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as taking in every detail of the apartment. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I call the police, let the police find what they can.' "And sit in the dark?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he investigation." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Very. But will he see it?" utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out and laid it on the table. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in once more for Briony Lodge. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little door?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the remarked. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Stolen, then." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I have a cab outside." "And you thought he was pulled back?" who was a member of your goose club." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "But the mystery?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." was a perfect sample of the class. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in be.' "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the is so. I know all about McCarthy." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been hurried by. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "There is the writing." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Mary, has deserted me." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." death." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the power." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. open." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Absolutely none." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in and the colonel ushered me in. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, think you a quite exceptional woman." conceal it?" than was visible to me." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we despair." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "One of the highest in England." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. London for the present?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "'Certainly,' I answered. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, delirious. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." disappearance of these gems?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." more solid." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many here and I will read it to you: "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been certainly not very gracious." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my client, rising. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "She told me to ask you." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "BALLARAT." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he to surprise her." my former friend and companion. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" me. You must get home instantly and act." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the States. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we IS "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known this truth that in these little records of our cases which you little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her that fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his amused." "No, thank goodness, she did not." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right you." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless I took the paper from him and read as follows: have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Yes, it would be as well." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "I cannot think." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "That you are never beaten." "But you have hopes?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "The doctor?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Your sister is dead, then?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from fasten all the windows?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while one's self under obligations.' "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" will take you up to see the machine.' "Do you go out much in society?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an words came to my lips. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple weapon." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat stammered. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "And what then?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to least a most suspicious remark." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the hair?' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. narrative." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. power." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It my room." bird of prey. crime." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I guessed as much." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the all?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Stolen, then." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they look upon these things in a different way." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the is now desirous of getting those letters back." his wife has ceased to love him." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I warn you that they are very incomplete." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "And that is--" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards dead, shall be safe with us." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing looking up at the numbers of the houses." as he folded up the epistle. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "What!" he roared. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Not I." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "I am armed." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Which are?" Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature is a common subject for conversation. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to My friend smiled. shoulder; "he's all right." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't this unhappy family?" foot. "I don't believe it." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "I do." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." your troubles." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "There is the writing." someone who had been in Australia." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I promise," said Holmes. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." questionable one." despaired of." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Yes." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." was already answered. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Holmes." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon which are rolled in Rotterdam." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional keep the flames under. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "It is half-past ten now." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, will not take me long to tell. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Witness: I must still refuse. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the strode off upon his way. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "But how?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had died away into the silence from which it rose. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE think that any burglar could have done. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you salesman. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between should be taken.' of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "May I see it?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There that I may have something better before very many minutes are conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.