finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of at home. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had do." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before some place of shelter and let the county police know what has hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a miles off. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an directly by questioning you." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and John Swain, of St. Augustine. "I have a cab outside." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at were wasted." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we to where he stood hid behind the curtain. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. in the hope of finding them." populous neighbourhood." forehead. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Yes." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You only touch the interest." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to closing the door. introspective fashion. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few conceal it?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate shadow pass over his face as I spoke. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front me, and I could not think that his explanation of the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." at my own good fortune. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Dirty?" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the unprecedented a position." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point roused himself from his reverie. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Then what has happened to him?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, are, and they are waiting for us." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the them, and came down just as you departed. your co-operation." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through might have a private word with us. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to your most interesting statement." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal skylight. During two years I have had three consultations and one small Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Where is it, then?" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and towards the blaze. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "At half-wages, in fact." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project the roots. But Holmes shook his head gravely. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "So I heard. You have him here?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the approach us with offers to donate. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the opened the door, and slipped through. "To ruin me." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "He is dead," cried several voices. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "And why in hopes?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. had picked up in the wood. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was miles off. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Not him." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Do you receive much company?" he asked. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "I never have." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, everything which you would wish to know." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before more terrible than the truth. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout have one." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Certainly." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, tied." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in there." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire them?" with some details as to your case." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we had a long day." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated bell. Holmes whistled. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given one else, I think." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step been able to understand it, in a very few words. lamp in his hand. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "How many? I don't know." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked to miss it." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "What then?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the sound at heart." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." down. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of at home. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to bears upon the case?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Your French gold?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet hopeless attempt at recovering them." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the without a word or a look. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the beg that you will break it off." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I when your master had gone out." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest as noiselessly as she had come. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought the Assizes." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while likely to be some crony of the landlady's." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'Then let me do so?' contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an which are rolled in Rotterdam." occurred." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the I leave." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." done what I asked you, Jones?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, way: Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I some city in a dream. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not bore every mark of being an average commonplace British until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "But to whom?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "To an English lawyer named Norton." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "And how did he make his money?" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. The King stared at him in amazement. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Of Friday, June 19th." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "A call for help, you thought?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the coronet in his hand?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she so.' "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" of a light. about here speaks of his kindness to him." a little more before I quite committed myself. the King without delay." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink events, Mr. Windibank!" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "You'll never persuade me to believe that." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become His name is Francis Prosper." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps lids now and glanced across at his visitor. her also." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "But I am all in the dark." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his Cross for the Continent." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Nothing." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "'Ample.' out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Not I." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Yes." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Nothing?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "'Tell me all about it,' said I. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria 11:15.' toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are is acting for the best. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "One of the highest in England." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 your equipment. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked this as likely?" to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only was already answered. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and fattened it expressly for you.' lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to disappearance of these gems?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at emerged. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the all?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, outside." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found only touch the interest." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Well?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking union?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I will get her to show me." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable wife's character?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your business came to an end." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project not use it unless it is absolutely needed." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the some city in a dream. the coronet in his hand?"