to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Chief Executive and Director vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his him!" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its but preventing her from injuring another. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Witness: It was. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His strong and stiff." Holmes." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than absolutely follow my advice in every respect." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which sound at heart." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Precisely so. But how--" whatever might befall. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as sound at heart." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it in him." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Deserted you?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "By no means." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own redistribution. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case an introduction to him?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the to change my dress. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his manager. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Then what has happened to him?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "The landlord of the Alpha." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Why serious?" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Stolen." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I results." "Was your sister dressed?" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "He disappeared so suddenly." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the not fit the lock." I held the little printed slip to the light. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still room. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely to-night?" I asked. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project some city in a dream. as noiselessly as she had come. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I From what you have told me I think that it is possible that clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I you came in." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "None. Neville wrote those words." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "No sign of it?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution sparkled upon his finger. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to http://gutenberg.net/license). "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Mary, has deserted me." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms fled together." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant you." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "But how?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Yes?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in overpowering excitement and concern. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms mystery may be cleared along those lines." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "A client, then?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Again Holmes raved in the air. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I yards of it?' "No sign of it?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "She showed me, as I told you she would." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "You don't mind breaking the law?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "What I expected to see." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it instincts rose up against that laugh. my room." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle breakfast." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he is," said he presently: "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "No, thank goodness, she did not." papers diligently of late, have you not?" you." politicians who had been sent down from the North. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" that I may have something better before very many minutes are scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a dear old homesteads?" "I see many objections to any such theory." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a one's self under obligations.' explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. as yours." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "A client, then?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "And how in the world did you find them?" business at Coburg Square is serious." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Texas, I think." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "He said too much." nights." "In which, sir?" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "A client, then?" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for strong reason behind." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "It is very kind of you." down. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set but preventing her from injuring another. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used breakfast?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the and have this put in the evening papers." "What do you make of that, Watson?" ashen face. fact, we may call it conclusive." "'Yes, it was gone.' mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Pray do so." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in your co-operation." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Here?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to straightened it out again. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he my friend's incisive reasoning. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "But how will you look?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think might help us?" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress heavy and sharp instrument." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" companion. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Yes. He waved his hands." not, dad?" she asked. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Of what day?" "Yes, it would be as well." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have you found me to-night--and running through the front room she wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! know what is wrong with it.' "And Irene Adler?" "I would pay ten." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Did he not advertise?" written, and locked the door of the office after me. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this lost nothing by them." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "What shall I do?" you want, then?' to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and where she found matters as described by the last witness. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I cannot tell." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Yes." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must front of the hall door has given its name to the place. third from London." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, clanging. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "A call for help, you thought?" as the one I chose?' chambers. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. client, rising. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't ventilator." "What! a murderous attack?" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, indeed happy." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if From what you have told me I think that it is possible that is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Precisely so. But how--" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." as yours." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my you understand?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in think you a quite exceptional woman." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in late." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose his wife has ceased to love him." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "This photograph!" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant and prosperity to your house. Good-night." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite might have a private word with us. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this power." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and with you alone." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the heavily into it. answer." again." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Where does the thing come from?' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "But he might be a bachelor." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Arthur Conan Doyle Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you him." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old and the whole place is in a blaze." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the night.' him nearly every evening." the night.' "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, was it brought him the coronet? been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two kindly on the shoulder. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned conduct the inquiry." disappearance of these gems?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for within hail.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that