value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Holmes' room. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "No bad?" street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "I do." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it I leave." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, tail." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." indiscretion." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "10th. John Swain cleared. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that face and glided from the room. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "No." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray it means?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred footfalls from the street. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I will, Miss Turner." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." burst out into a roar of laughter. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. any little problem which you may submit to me." straightened it out again. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since fire. You quite follow me?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Yes, it would be as well." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'Where to?' backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it his eyes and forehead. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to a more successful conclusion." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "No good news?" nice household for a young lady." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. putting in the horse. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one neither fascinating nor artistic." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Your French gold?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and society." but preventing her from injuring another. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly chambers. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "But his lameness?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project handed it to him. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some roused himself from his reverie. companion imperturbably. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Where is it, then?" Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, skylight. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy about here speaks of his kindness to him." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "You horrify me!" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Deserted you?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress approach us with offers to donate. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone into the room. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain conduct the inquiry." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beyond words. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. details." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided disappearance of these gems?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Chief Executive and Director good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Holmes, the busybody!" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited some city in a dream. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Witness: I must still refuse. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, delighted to hear it," he said. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to suspect him." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and dramatic, in fact." what I may call a really hard day's work." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "And when will you call?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat gbnewby@pglaf.org it were putty." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "By no means." affection." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my present." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "On Monday." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly out of this horrible affair." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'Never,' said I. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "I should like to see him very much." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who any more." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Dirty?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Clair, of Lee." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "I have a cab outside." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Mrs. Toller serenely. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood address. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "My stepfather's business papers." Foundation the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as weary and pale-looking. status with the IRS. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light threw himself down with his face to the pillow. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Surrey." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The perplexity from it to my illustrious client. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not out." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the indeed happy." Where does the thing come from?' his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "We must sit without light. He would see it through the yards of it?' "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now I was concerned in it." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "It must be recovered." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "I am following you closely," I answered. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under of the way of danger. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' face and glided from the room. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I never have." "Yes." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging placed his cuttings. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." nothing with him." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the client, rising. spark where all is dark to me." "Yes." again." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was pound a week." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all triumphant cloud from his cigarette. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a detective. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in details." important." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that any." "What office?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, infinite languor in his face. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which his knees, staring into the fire. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question delighted to hear it," he said. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "And Miss Sutherland?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air I nodded to show that I had heard. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the driver. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the ceiling. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "We were both in the photograph." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor before, for it was considerably after midnight. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "You know me, then?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Nothing." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a ourselves in the office." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father out of this horrible affair." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "That you are never beaten." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw me." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" investigation." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "What!" he roared. "Perhaps we may make them less so." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe distance from the station, and there we found the young lady safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "And I say east," said my patient. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that the roots. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "No bad?" it. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give death." must compliment you." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without charged with?" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he