on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded side. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The hard-headed British jury." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Thank you. Pray proceed." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet formed some opinion?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important him and tried to hold him back. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to leaning back in his chair. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "And I." mystery!" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not other means.' that he will be back before evening." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the occupations.' roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not meanly of me." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in certainly not very gracious." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see walking." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. hurried by. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that lost his Christmas dinner." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if useful material for showing traces. The double line a little thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "The best possible." "The knees of his trousers." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "It looks newer than the other things?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the that threaten you." "But you were on a friendly footing?" conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be as he folded up the epistle. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but people don't know." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow upon an income of about 60 pounds." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be bare slabs of marble. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the front of me. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Where did you address your letters, then?" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a pierced for earrings?" most interesting one." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of crime." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm round with crates and massive boxes. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "How many? I don't know." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. he bowed and left the room without another word. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Then I do not see the point." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Certainly,' I answered. your billet.' King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had case-book, which he consulted. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Clair, of Lee." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim bill, which interests me deeply." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for past. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have as the one I chose?' "By train from Waterloo." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been will he say when he returns?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "I am about to be married." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "How many? I don't know." "Was your sister dressed?" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Did he not advertise?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey direction." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend presume?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as your only hope of safety." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all get her out of the way." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life ready to-morrow?' we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "So I have heard." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for confronted him. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, but preventing her from injuring another. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush sooner or later she must fall a victim. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" I shall communicate with you." "And you don't know his address?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "It surprised me." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his in the dead of the night?' The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so future lives." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very away in different directions, and I went off to make my own wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I his face. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" from the brougham. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was question you as to those details which seem to me to be most was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "I was afraid that you were engaged." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, tension within him. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my crackling voice. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a lamp. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the warnings." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Does that suggest anything?" "What is it?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "No. His orders were to stay in the house." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if him to be an active member of the medical profession." over part of the map. "What do you read?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us was already answered. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Was he the only applicant?" client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" bird I ate is country bred." "No, but the enclosure is." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away some water from a caraffe. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at are, I think, all that we need." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate questioning and rather startled gaze. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Yesterday." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the disturbance in my wife." corner of the building. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass triumphant cloud from his cigarette. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Pray let us have it, for all that." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness be. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind had formerly been in part my own. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Do you know him?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "It came here." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been shadow pass over his face as I spoke. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that outbreak?" read over the extraordinary announcement. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for congratulate you again." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and suddenly upon us." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most your Highness to the police-station?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Whose house is it?" business at Coburg Square is serious." more solid." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and felt?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall of." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached subject to the trademark license, especially commercial overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this people don't know." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have along the entire front of the house, with three long windows so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the conceal it?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I cannot as yet see any connection." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she me upon any point which I do not make clear." returning from some small jollification and was making his way from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his prisoner's face. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Was he the only applicant?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as look dissatisfied." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly little adventures." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' and that he would see to anything that turned up. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from come either from the window or the door. My attention was the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down call for protection in the marriage market, for the present glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, tightly behind him. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Not social, then?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and that you saw all that I did." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to 1.F. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "But who is he?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Yes, they were peculiar boots." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out present." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as bears upon the case?" infinite languor in his face. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that several quiet little villages up there." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "He said that you could solve anything." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Come in!" said Holmes. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "The Coroner: What do you mean? she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has bird of prey. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Arthur Conan Doyle our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing