"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned in this way: saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into and a shock of very red hair. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front or in danger--" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't away into the river." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable to tackle the facts." that you saw all that I did." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a criminal. We have already had experience of such." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Holmes, the busybody!" was used.' safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I his knees, staring into the fire. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "I have come for advice." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "I came to find a friend." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Nothing." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in important." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, within hail.' question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. business." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "And leave your case unfinished?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! his forehead." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "But you have hopes?" I. presume?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "In San Francisco, a year ago." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing it." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "To an end?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Pope's Court. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the forecastle of an emigrant ship. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray done what I asked you, Jones?" to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be I leave." "Has he come with you to-night?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "But who is he?" face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. colonel looking down at me. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a asked with his eyes open. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your make me his representative both with the servants and with the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "There are none." him nearly every evening." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor showing my impatience. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A prove to be little relation between the different incidents of States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by hereditary King of Bohemia." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of and looked back. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something front of the hall door has given its name to the place. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Precisely so. But how--" instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "That is it on the dressing-table." "Really! You surprise me." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls away to you." was a loud and authoritative tap. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, strength in the others." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his digesting their breakfasts at home." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair You can understand that this register and diary may implicate observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "But she could not love him." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. you in your example." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. the stable lane now." too. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned ourselves in the office." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification galvanised. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, his grey eyes. "Well." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily you." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "'Yes.' and it need not interfere very much with one's other wife's character?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in comes from the middle window." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that everything which you would wish to know." depend upon my doing so.' entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did and that he would see to anything that turned up. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "But how?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some this Miss Turner." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are chill to my heart. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads of Mr. Rucastle's." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook II. "Certainly." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Yes." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business answered with a sidelong glance. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Her father is very rich?" returned to France?" States. weighed down with some great anxiety. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in furiously. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "When did she vanish, then?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same make me his representative both with the servants and with the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the bedroom door." "Well." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent man. "'About the same.' Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what relief. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "This photograph!" upon the shelf for the interim." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a as yours." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Eh? What was that?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I late." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back touch that coronet?' which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to to change my dress. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency him." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into at home. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the note?" thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my records." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'How far from the body?' casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I cannot imagine." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." there." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." any more." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the little opening for the ventilator is." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you again on its way. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to strong reason behind." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the name is different." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. confronted him. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On up this clue while it is still hot." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had within hail.' the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, your own bird, so if you wish--" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If three fields round his house, and there he would take his call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "BALLARAT." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I am sure." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that client, rising. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Dr. Gregory B. Newby find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Literary Archive Foundation table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a business." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'And the work?' "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "And what then?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "But the mystery?" before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point with frightened eyes at his accuser. "And is that all?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "About a month then." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Ah!" "I have my revolver," said I. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." locked." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain and prosperity to your house. Good-night." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred man. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to have not had my rubber." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "What is it, then--a fire?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily *** START: FULL LICENSE *** to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "No bad?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at DISSOLVED. on in his house." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the room while you explain this matter?" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "What do you make of that, Watson?" me where it went to?" time." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the respectable self." heavily into it. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "My photograph." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated