in the hope of finding them." it were putty." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable fishes. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner are, I think, all that we need." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "One of his hands." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless very old mansion. "Yes." already been minutely examined." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "'What then?' I asked. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "One of his hands." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we country, and eventually married, without anyone having a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Will you go?" fled together." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." long narrative. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her him and tried to hold him back. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow meant it for the best. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Pray do so." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom see a sister of mine apply for." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and and I shall be with you presently." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I will get her to show me." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "'And the work?' propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' chance at all." developed." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that followed. "My dear Holmes!" he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted opened the door, and slipped through. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained eavesdroppers?' "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used bell. Holmes whistled. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side cup of tea. door?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Then you may be so with me." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, only touch the interest." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the six. Come in!" "In answer to an advertisement." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I warn you that they are very incomplete." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." that?' "We have tried and failed." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their problems help me to do so." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "An accident, I presume?" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not meanly of me." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for and have this put in the evening papers." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but yourselves in at night?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." think, you have already met." from the brougham. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me papers on the sundial.'" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I have come for advice." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may think that any burglar could have done. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had nice household for a young lady." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and used to be." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "And how did you verify them?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Then what has happened to him?" Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "You horrify me." and the church but not where the lady lived." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. to a light-house. more terrible than the truth. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Stolen, then." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Serpentine Avenue. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "No." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Whose house is it?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us carriage. It was a chestnut." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at within hail.' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "'A dozen yards or so.' someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east that the gas is not laid on in his house?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Very well, sir. And this stone?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to again before evening." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would face and glided from the room. made his money." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Very well, sir. And this stone?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "'About the same.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The infinite languor in his face. the stones. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Do you go out much in society?" good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a the very morning of the wedding." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's approach us with offers to donate. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of matters immensely." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself them, and came down just as you departed. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "But who is he?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite reach." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, seem to you to be relevant or not." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes murdered man." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "I should like to see him very much." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter used to be." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "And how did you verify them?" all that?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more may never be exposed to such a temptation." "I cannot tell." "Do you go out much in society?" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Yes, sir." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "But his lameness?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "And what then?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'And the work?' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only get her out of the way." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, advice." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "It looks newer than the other things?" entirely lost his self-respect." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at if I call to-morrow?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning You can understand that this register and diary may implicate the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Perfectly so." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert that before taking the final step I should like to submit the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make down from London to inquire more deeply into it." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "'A dozen yards or so.' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed gone. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "The best possible." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never have an American origin." "Yes." then?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client hardly wander." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked sound at heart." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, once more to my work. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for to change my dress. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "No, distinctly professional." "My stepfather's business papers." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should this as likely?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "And how in the world did you find them?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I address. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the of receipt of the work. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a think that any burglar could have done. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the driver. in this note: "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. maid will bring up your coffee." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" himself. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor I shall continue with my miserable story. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great bare slabs of marble. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." in the hope of finding them." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "When did it break out?" "Ha! you find it so?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "You heard nothing yourself last night?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would that you saw all that I did." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot tied." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Never." the window, rose as we entered. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "That is not always so easy." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin wall." "And sit in the dark?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. relief. nonsense.' there is a decided draught." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Mrs. Toller serenely. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy have one." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the appeared upon the scene." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Where to?" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by I took the paper from him and read as follows: turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you one's self under obligations.' "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You me what he had done with the three missing stones. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather I leave." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.