"Of what day?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and returning from some small jollification and was making his way the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these them?" how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." already been minutely examined." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "When did it break out?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." not, dad?" she asked. him to go away.' frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" distinguish the words: "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen of fine shops and stately business premises that they really something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" is acting for the best. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the returning from some small jollification and was making his way however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. prison!" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. if I call to-morrow?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "There is the writing." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even disappearance of these gems?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing in his power. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself washing it down with a long draught of water. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, matter." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to surprise her." electronic works likely to be some crony of the landlady's." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with straighten it?" unkempt, staring out at me. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "'Yes.' story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are your most interesting statement." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there distinguish the words: Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'Quite sure, dad.' Heh?' and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Pope's Court, Fleet Street." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "It may not come to that," said Holmes. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. business." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Imitated." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had works. See paragraph 1.E below. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as he died? agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." leave you to your papers for a little." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the one as in the other." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens answered with a sidelong glance. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "They are typewritten," I remarked. Have you good authority for what you say?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Yes." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "It certainly sounds feasible." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten this unhappy family?" accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Pray let us have it, for all that." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are and I shall be with you presently." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "My stepfather's business papers." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second fear." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of details should find their way into the papers. Inspector This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' only touch the interest." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Oh, fresh and glossy." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. fact, we may call it conclusive." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'Tell me all about it,' said I. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to stepfather?" Holmes rather sternly. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "What can it mean?" I gasped. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need is so. I know all about McCarthy." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears any more." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the fashion which was peculiar to him. to tell." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "And who is her maid?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery one of the states of the Union." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Holmes rather sternly. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "The best possible." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my place no limit on the sum I may draw." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." You want to know what became of those geese?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, corner of the building. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found meanly of me." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, generous with you in money matters.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. delirious. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "In San Francisco, a year ago." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I am in hopes that she does." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Stolen." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so 11:15.' power." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. The summons was a brief and urgent one. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Did he not advertise?" "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying note?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "That sounds a little paradoxical." to Leatherhead. "'In my own bureau.' We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was acquaintance?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by figure." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as disturbance in my wife." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of been lifted and conveyed somewhere." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six father's place of business?" "Where, indeed?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "And how in the world did you find them?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, few hundred pounds.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I but preventing her from injuring another. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm to where he stood hid behind the curtain. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from make me his representative both with the servants and with the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "But how did you gain them?" "But you have hopes?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I say that I have solved it." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Yes, the wine-cellar." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis shall not find me ungrateful." populous neighbourhood." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "I am sure." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, the Assizes." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in helping a boy to put up the shutters. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not children over to America with him, so that I found myself without gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "In what way?" asked Holmes. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was chance at all." "What!" he roared. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a that threaten you." hour." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for you want, then?' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too some terrible trap for her." golden eyeglasses. "How did you deduce the select?" on re-entering her father's house?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I am sure." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and have established a very serious case against the son of the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it that he will be back before evening." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "In answer to an advertisement." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook chambers. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want you?' that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and here and I will read it to you: with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the coroner come to?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As to-morrow." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "And your mother is alive?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "'Oh, no.' It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was face and glided from the room. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of next day. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual that he has suffered." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's is," said he presently: Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and later, upon the night of May 2nd." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'Where to?' "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "No, distinctly professional." power." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled I shall communicate with you." this as likely?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, than to us. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you business at Coburg Square is serious." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "And how have you succeeded?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and colour had been driven from his face. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Upon what point?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There have not had my rubber." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of outside." handed it to him. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I cannot imagine."