"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "But the mystery?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away opened a pocket-book and took out a note. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "He might." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "'And what are they worth?' I asked. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "'Where to?' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "In heaven's name, what for?" "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Witness: It was. "Perfectly so." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "But how?" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Proceed, then." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Yes." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Here?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "'Certainly not.' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the you?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would questionable one." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the be sorry for having acted so harshly." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice at home. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He the nursery. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which not come at once?" "No good news?" the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "How can you tell that?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about weighed down with some great anxiety. "And how?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of other, as fresh and trim as possible. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, few hundred pounds.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at girl said." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired garden below. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The tell them apart.' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between was lame." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "No, I am descending." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Well, some hundreds of times." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they point our research must commence, and we will begin it by a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "No, but the enclosure is." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, within hail.' It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my seven miles from Eyford Station.' to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Then what has happened to him?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what envelope. crackling voice. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east round and wave him away like that.' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "What!" he roared. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with you." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "It is his hat." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'I shall certainly be there.' "What can it mean?" I gasped. "What then?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "I see many objections to any such theory." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of voice. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a bonnet, and went out." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police your billet.' little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'Where to?' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my examine." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate became a certainty. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the driver. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Yes." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it be best to do. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. secret." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I friends, not even his own brother. business?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Not in a good cause." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "So I heard. You have him here?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere acted in my house last night?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He again on its way. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "The landlord of the Alpha." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "What! Had he lost his wife?" forebodings. "And you thought he was pulled back?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "This photograph!" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her least a most suspicious remark." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal fasten all the windows?" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he way in." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in lumber-room." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would be. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question bird of prey. "Yes?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "What! You do not mean bodies?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." friend's singular character. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as were unconscious?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may business in the City. She little knew what. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "At what time?" way in." second window is the one that I jumped from." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more a little more before I quite committed myself. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "And how have you succeeded?" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "How on earth--" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and his cane at the bell-pull. "Yes, it was twisted." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely highly," said Holmes. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Dirty?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I is a common subject for conversation. mysterious end." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal business in the City. She little knew what. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have distance from the station, and there we found the young lady vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is nice household for a young lady." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "That is easily got." against a man in the prime of life?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the depend upon my doing so.' which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "My photograph." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "'Yes, sir.' been with you?" think that any burglar could have done. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "I never have." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at if I call to-morrow?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "But you have hopes?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "We have tried and failed." hands. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." good for you to do.' face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten searched, without anything being found which could incriminate have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon looking up at the numbers of the houses." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "You forget that I know nothing about it." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Was the window open?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, likely to be some crony of the landlady's." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see point our research must commence, and we will begin it by my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled this Miss Turner." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes skylight. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban gives a meaning to it." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "I say that I have solved it." as yours." posted to-day." here." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "And is that all?" is acting for the best. tell them apart.' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "'I am sure if I had known--' But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those and effective." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, chance at all." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "How about poison?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, occupations.' address. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was 1.E.9. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the some terrible trap for her." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the woman." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Where, then, is my wife?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to better in every way that they should make their position a little writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." not as remarkable as your advertisement." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "What!" he roared. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "'Why that?' I asks. pictures, libraries, or plate. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "And that is--" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the His smile broadened. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Yes, sir.' comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Yes." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the side-table." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Where to?" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even unprofitable." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet to Leatherhead. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was already been minutely examined." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "And leave your case unfinished?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." instincts rose up against that laugh. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the Red-headed League." shall use the carriage to-night." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is views." "I have seen the police." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled,