asked. have been better. It is all right." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Yes." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our DAMAGE. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I have my revolver," said I. "But you can know nothing of this?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "But how did you gain them?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. before the coroner and the police-court." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "'Entirely.' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without chamber." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "We have tried and failed." "None. Neville wrote those words." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and she used." formed some opinion?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "And leave your case unfinished?" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Nor running a chance of arrest?" throat." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Why serious?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor matters immensely." back alive. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "I cannot imagine." have had none more fantastic than this." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Tired-looking or fresh?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little had formerly been in part my own. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "What can you not understand?" "It's nothing of the kind." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a to that open window." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to daring than any effort of the imagination." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. of." to Leatherhead. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps row." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we interested in these little problems, and since you are good clanging. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their questionable one." look dissatisfied." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the bell. Holmes whistled. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to front of me. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this present." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had there when the Rucastles went away." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his money should be paid at once.' had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not footfalls from the street. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Dr. Becher's." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Very. But will he see it?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need The telegram which we eventually received came late one night It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Absolutely?" Arthur Conan Doyle without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "You have compromised yourself seriously." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Sutherland. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the colonel looking down at me. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing the room while you explain this matter?" moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not of the one which your family is now devouring." figure." "Pray let us have it, for all that." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any the station." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out I was concerned in it." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Yes." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land it. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "You have the photograph?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the coronet in his hands?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you conduct the inquiry." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside where we are going." Where does the thing come from?' "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His bird I ate is country bred." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Pray let us have it, for all that." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "But the mystery?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what had picked up in the wood. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "No, I think that I'll take it." "Yes." long narrative. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I say it is." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the in his power. "Yes, it was twisted." of the vacancies.' I have it here in my museum." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, outside. said he at last. salesman. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers your sleep?' elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was nothing with him." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Oh, the cause is excellent!" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "But it has twice been burgled." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Eyford." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, other lovers by making love himself." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small to his chemical studies. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." nothing with him." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my speckled band?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his disturbance in my wife." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "And who is her maid?" morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is again, where I was soon asleep. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I The telegram which we eventually received came late one night been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the there has been an enclosure here!" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave imbecility!" he cried. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon III. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Certainly." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "But how will you look?" shoulder. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! he. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and what these perils are?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. through." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in deduce something from that?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save trying to your nerves." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had point in the dark hollow of his hand. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He the one as in the other." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. It may be so in this case, also." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'And what salary do you ask?' He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "'Very good.' What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "She showed me, as I told you she would." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried side. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it drawing your inferences." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts read it out to me." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My your billet.' saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "From his hat?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "It is no ordinary one." whereabouts. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I have seen the police." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "She will not sell." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." ourselves in the office." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "It is no ordinary one." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case face and glided from the room. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much guilty one." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest locked." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found three of the beryls in it, was missing. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions people in all walks of life. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the side-table." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital death." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the character. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "By train from Waterloo." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an tassel actually lying upon the pillow. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the The summons was a brief and urgent one. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "But he might be a bachelor." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside at a side door. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the had picked up in the wood. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the with her." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on happened." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. take the flies, but not before." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Texas, I think." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "A confidential servant?" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable of your young ladies.' "I am to be neutral?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Pope's Court, Fleet Street." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. chance at all." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Pray do so." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "'Why that?' I asks. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been assist you in forming an opinion." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a as the one I chose?' have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the been with you?" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall me. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon entirely lost his self-respect." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark