legal crime." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day roused himself from his reverie. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that developed." "I say that I have solved it." astonishment. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the one as in the other." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. might help us?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "You horrify me!" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" it were putty." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never already referred to. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square so far?" town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "I will not look." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Yes, the wine-cellar." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another ceremony." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "That is also quite modern," said the lady. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I rose-bushes. cigars in the box." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Gutenberg-tm License. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Not social, then?" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "And I." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and which we had just quitted. started for the Temple to see my husband. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows brandy and water within his reach. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the conclusions. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "What steps will you take?" I asked. bears upon the case?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the during that time.' "Did you observe the colour?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been her also." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "You don't mind breaking the law?" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." very old mansion. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our ways of our fellow-men." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "When did it break out?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom questioning and rather startled gaze. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of certainly do as you advise." "I shall be delighted." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little heavily into it. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I I nodded again. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I have not had my rubber." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. His smile broadened. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the people don't know." "Murdered?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw in darkness. three of the beryls in it, was missing. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Nothing." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and one's self under obligations.' the side-table." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and to have that photograph." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, already been minutely examined." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the roots. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said undoubtedly my uncle's." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until leaning back in his chair. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as begin with, and I had not got mine yet." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, used to be." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin writers could invent nothing more crude." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "You have but to name it." "Yes, sir." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "At half-wages, in fact." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the room while you explain this matter?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. experiences." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' upon a handsome competence. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very closely." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom success. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Not I." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly touch that coronet?' have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that drove away. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Then I shall certainly come." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Not yet." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from information in his hands the value of which he did not himself she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite arrangements." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in wedding?" companion. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Really! You surprise me." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give jewels which you have stolen?' Cross for the Continent." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left some water from a caraffe. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I will he say when he returns?" "Ten will be early enough." I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "How do you know, then?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. tightly behind him. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'Certainly not. But why?' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the do you make of it all?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and formed some opinion?" "'Most admirably.' station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this papers on the sundial.'" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which placed his cuttings. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. question," said Holmes, smiling. reach." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the leave you to your papers for a little." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "And did you observe any change in her then?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant call you and give you the chance." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. purpose equally well?" the coroner come to?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "What is it?" request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "In San Francisco, a year ago." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in companion quietly. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a tied." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'Never.' is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for detective. meant." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'Certainly,' I answered. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Here?" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a nights." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Pope's Court. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn whether it answered to the description of any of their money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the lamp. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My some city in a dream. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very The summons was a brief and urgent one. "And that is--" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this so far?" these bleak autumnal evenings." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "'What are you doing there?' he asked. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a touch that coronet?' "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you did not hear it also.' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as knowledge of the world." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town garden below. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with my secret was safe in his possession. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "What shall I do?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my himself. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. your bag." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers new duties?' other means.' "But you were on a friendly footing?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "We were both in the photograph." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with went to the Alpha were town bred." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to before the coroner and the police-court." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch happened." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, again, where I was soon asleep. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to