course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "How on earth--" to-night?' Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be returned to France?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Perfectly so." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent most important business. It is probable that he will be away all without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is passage and a tap at the door. clang of the bell. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this my secret was safe in his possession. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most I shall continue with my miserable story. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." here and I will read it to you: "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "You have compromised yourself seriously." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he awkward doing business with an alias." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "What then?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery the devil!" "No." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. all-comprehensive glances. "How many? I don't know." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She but preventing her from injuring another. him to be an active member of the medical profession." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the with you alone." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "I shall most certainly do so." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "What is it?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I as he remarks, very much against the son." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no What do you deduce from it?" his grey eyes. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to washing it down with a long draught of water. woven round him. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began his cane at the bell-pull. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, four million human beings all jostling each other within the to his chemical studies. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that fashion which was peculiar to him. lamp. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "And why in hopes?" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "A confidential servant?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which was not a bird to be seen there. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: neither fascinating nor artistic." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case the bed, and you in that chair." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "No, I think that I'll take it." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." go from here to the Strand." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable should be taken.' now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of a room. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with tightly behind him. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the bled considerably." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "To an English lawyer named Norton." villagers almost as much as their master. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His with you?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes over his head with a sweet womanly caress. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" of them has the shutters up.' his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "I am all attention, madam." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay constraint." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I think it very unlikely." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I one which it was hard to resist. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "That also I could fathom." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly take the flies, but not before." already been minutely examined." together. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point there in twenty minutes." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of was already answered. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is think that he is innocent?" this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your and put his glass in his pocket. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one used to be." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "But his left-handedness." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from know all about it," he snarled. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the coroner come to?" hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, man. I know him from the photograph." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden the general public were present, then?" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it photograph?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "I will get her to show me." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." cause to be." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this if she died from some sudden fright." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the his wife has ceased to love him." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Yes." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Yes, but only for you and me." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he answer." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "'Yes.' into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little and no precautions can guard against." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, never came back." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for these bleak autumnal evenings." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold floor. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic than was visible to me." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "None." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "It must be recovered." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black second." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Precisely so. But how--" papers." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and me what he had done with the three missing stones. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from secret." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it The King stared at him in amazement. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "You were travelling in the States?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. it." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as matter." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "My last client of the sort was a king." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, footfalls from the street. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "One of the highest in England." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Serpentine Avenue. south, for the country is more deserted there." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I with the outside air!" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." you for a few hours?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in fled together." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Do you go out much in society?" once more to my work. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and and your relations to her." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of you give your casting vote to?" could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "And Miss Sutherland?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "What can you not understand?" to that open window." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Nothing." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great light and attacked it." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Could he throw no light?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began most interesting one." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the annoyance, but no jest. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common could go. through." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to upon a handsome competence. annoyance, but no jest. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "But of what society?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a correct than the official force." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it whether it answered to the description of any of their "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the roots. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new obstinate." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "And for present expenses?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad himself. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." was it brought him the coronet? "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church 'I should be able to look after that for you.' I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were cigars in the box." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'Which dealer's?' constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The