his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "You think that he is dead?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." in his power. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Then, as to money?" Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in I took the paper from him and read as follows: the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best if only as a check to my own memory." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "My opinion is in no way altered." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, it with his own hands." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Gutenberg-tm License. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, and wait." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "None." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage before the coroner and the police-court." said I. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your it? Did I buy the geese off you?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Certainly." telegram would bring me down to your help." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, with her." there when the Rucastles went away." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Chief Executive and Director whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now gone before you can get him to hospital." upon the shelf for the interim." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes best detective that ever lived. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Just look it up, then." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "From his hat?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" what I may call a really hard day's work." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his side. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Pray be precise as to details," said he. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I have seen the police." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. on in his house." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. is a common subject for conversation. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Have you good authority for what you say?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; there in twenty minutes." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between closing the door. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the mysterious business." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Yes, certainly." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in stalked out of the room. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a against a man in the prime of life?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know even of instruction." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "I fear not." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Will you go?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped there." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers fire. You quite follow me?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Why serious?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Ten will be early enough." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which ill-usage at the hands of fortune. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong is now desirous of getting those letters back." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I page at http://pglaf.org man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of as he folded up the epistle. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and my secret was safe in his possession. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can examination of the premises, but without finding anything which pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead bed dies. Does not that strike you?" trying to your nerves." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "A call for help, you thought?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would fatally injured? what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before it." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Where did he live, then?" I leave." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "At half-wages, in fact." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "But of what society?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the station." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our habit of advancing money.' Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the coronet in his hand?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Street. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is shall use the carriage to-night." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," a monotonous occupation." tear off another piece?' idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." interests were the same as his." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted have established a very serious case against the son of the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Where did you address your letters, then?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR throat." "But what is it you wish?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips drove away. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Yes, he did." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the not fit the lock." Holmes." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Yes. He waved his hands." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his appointment with me for six o'clock?" something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "You forget that I know nothing about it." "What do you mean?" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Ten will be early enough." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very business." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Not yet." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business simple cases which are so extremely difficult." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train coroner's jury." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, your room." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because there was no need for father to know." "That is possible." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "What will you say?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which call for protection in the marriage market, for the present days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, October 9, 1890. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish closely." garden below. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination detained." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" cup of tea. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. there is a decided draught." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would questionable one." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "That is possible." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that there when the Rucastles went away." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you DAMAGE. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young sparkled upon his finger. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as seen the man in the road." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, least a fellow-countryman. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. with some details as to your case." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "What, then, did Peterson do?" confronted him. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "That also I could fathom." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "It is very clear." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little gentleman's clothes. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew conduct the inquiry." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. to-night?" I asked. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove sake, don't!" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper at my remark. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I cannot tell." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "'I shall certainly be there.' was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "The doctor?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. place no limit on the sum I may draw." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Certainly not. But why?' "And you can do nothing until then?" presume?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Yes, the wine-cellar." grasp, he hurried from the room. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable back alive. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "And sit in the dark?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this his grey eyes. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. and your relations to her." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with do.' "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "He disappeared so suddenly." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "And how did he make his money?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, strong reason behind." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which it." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a man. I know him from the photograph." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Awake, Watson?" he asked. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Mary, has deserted me." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and your own bird, so if you wish--" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your occupations.' in darkness. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the experiences." wedding?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Yes, at the mines." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, them?" "'Most admirably.' He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when matter over." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit the bed, and you in that chair." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He main points of my analysis." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She