estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep been lifted and conveyed somewhere." washing it down with a long draught of water. and have this put in the evening papers." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Seven!" I answered. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing face and glided from the room. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever kindly on the shoulder. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded just called myself is not exactly my own." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "If I can be of use." you want, then?' mystery may be cleared along those lines." father's place of business?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such quickly through a disagreeable task. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "What is it?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "'As governess?' has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which at my own good fortune. "My photograph." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "I am armed." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "In the cells." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. you came in." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Breckinridge is his name." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his key of the affair now." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Where, then, is my wife?" "Very truly yours, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the soul! here is her carriage at the door." together. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. official police." individual and becomes the badge of a society." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "I saw her in conversation with her maid." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Yes." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "You will not go there first?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but to tackle the facts." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark rose-bushes. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. handed it to him. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through again on its way. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said in one or two places in England?' crowd. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his be.' conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot use an arc-and-compass breastpin." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without gigantic client. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He tightly behind him. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "And what did you learn from him?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I your troubles." experiences." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In in a friendly supper." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "To the police?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he fluttered off among the others. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was gone. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which from you?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Dr. Becher's." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I was certainly surprised to find you there." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before fait accompli?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This fish-monger and a tide-waiter." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. people don't know." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "So I have heard." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge occurred." "'A dozen yards or so.' paper in the air. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "And what then?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he which should have the effect of calling the attention of the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, never will be, entirely cleared up. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "It surprised me." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my forecastle of an emigrant ship. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "And what did you learn from him?" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Lestrade of Scotland Yard." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like introspective fashion. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed upon the sideboard." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Perhaps we may make them less so." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Ah!" "The gentleman I describe." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak was used.' "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal look upon these things in a different way." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. despair." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "'Certainly not. But why?' and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before you." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Holmes. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official in him." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. so far?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me fear." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He matter." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "So I have heard." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of troubles have been weighing upon his mind. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any is acting for the best. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back a good hundred miles off by now." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. note?" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence there." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. lamp. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it someone who had been in Australia." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you signal between you and your father? heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know extraordinary contortions. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "But how?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Dark enough and sinister enough." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "But it has twice been burgled." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to married her." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would light and attacked it." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Nothing?" memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "It is solved." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. fire. You quite follow me?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked never came back." dear old homesteads?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Where did he live, then?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless already referred to. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Can I be of assistance?" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter writing, and yet I know it well." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Was the window open?" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the coronet at all injured?" "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I see many objections to any such theory." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior gone. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it comes from the middle window." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and voice. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'I have already given you my word.' on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill during the last few years, and there are many noble families to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." my friend's incisive reasoning. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my woman who has had her own way to make in the world. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every weary and pale-looking. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "A confidential servant?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "No, finished." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "But she could not love him." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her asked with his eyes open. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,