"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and learned something! Where are the gems?" address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to infinite languor in his face. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak ashen face. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than the stones. "Yes, it would be as well." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Then the page we have seen--" "In heaven's name, what for?" sparkled upon his finger. when your master had gone out." problems help me to do so." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the tragedy. the tragedy. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate to-morrow." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from works. See paragraph 1.E below. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes shoulder. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the must compliment you." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My cost them two and thirty pounds." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. excitement. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "May I see it?" "Absolutely?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with eavesdroppers?' back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call the armchair which I pushed forward for him. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "No, I had a dozen." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to occupations.' I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Mrs. Toller serenely. husband's writing, madam." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I a little more before I quite committed myself. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some be there in time for your coming." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "You did not overhear what they said?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like to tell." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he details should find their way into the papers. Inspector have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has open." murdered man." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Why did you beat the pavement?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Imitated." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know country, and eventually married, without anyone having a so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" important." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off my special province." heavily into it. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length bill, which interests me deeply." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we hereditary King of Bohemia." "'In my own bureau.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it where Mr. Fordham shows you.' whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. pound a week." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "No." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "How did you trace it, then?" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Again Holmes raved in the air. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he knowledge of the world." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the October 9, 1890. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Yes, only one." you?' elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and criminal. We have already had experience of such." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "I cannot tell." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became cost them two and thirty pounds." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "By no means." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Munro.' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "How can you tell that?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "But what will you do?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet is now desirous of getting those letters back." approach us with offers to donate. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Yes." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the station." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was October 9, 1890. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. generous with you in money matters.' "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "'It is locked up,' I answered. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "It certainly sounds feasible." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and The note was undated, and without either signature or address. his wife has ceased to love him." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the child." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could my special province." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent several quiet little villages up there." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face which was all perfectly true. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried carpenter." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." it." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works fatally injured? "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually man. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "But I have heard all that you have heard." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and seem to you to be relevant or not." "And I." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had maid will bring up your coffee." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are something of him before." "But how?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "Pray let us have it, for all that." sound at heart." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Do you go out much in society?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and noting anything else of interest. "He disappeared so suddenly." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." presume?" in my life." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Stoke Moran?" said he. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while mystery." the coronet at all injured?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and conclusions. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "It came here." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'Is 4 pounds a week.' age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings straightened it out again. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Yes." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Then you may be so with me." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in of Mr. Rucastle's." crime. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email DAMAGE. spark where all is dark to me." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I points to suicide?" of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Eyford." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Do you know him?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I will not take me long to tell. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may writing, and yet I know it well." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He cost them two and thirty pounds." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. my room." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a strength of mind to control. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'Yes, it was gone.' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock again on its way. fuss that is made over them." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each appeal." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight his knees, staring into the fire. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "That also I could fathom." obstinate." "Yes, I have one waiting." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of shadow pass over his face as I spoke. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am villagers almost as much as their master. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I am in hopes that she does." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual directors have had misgivings upon the subject." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. approach us with offers to donate. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Have you her photograph?" down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. as he folded up the epistle. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in business matters.' "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." speckled band?" "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "The landlord of the Alpha." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest God! What an exposure! What can I do?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, better in every way that they should make their position a little step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should had a long day." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small maiden herself was most instructive." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "You horrify me." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who sparkled upon his finger. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Yes, it would be as well." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person into the room. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt through." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, in the hope of finding them." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "How do you know, then?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes status with the IRS. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar Clair, of Lee." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'Where to?' certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. this as likely?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed purpose equally well?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow case-book, which he consulted. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." emerged. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a gives a meaning to it." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all too. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get