"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to be.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid and the colonel ushered me in. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had thin, with a long, sharp nose?" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs learned something! Where are the gems?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw row." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But empty. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "But I am all in the dark." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly to-night's adventure." "'Stolen!' he cried. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and with her." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? http://gutenberg.net/license). animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your morning." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "You are all wrong." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "In answer to an advertisement." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." tell me that you intended to go into harness." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "The vanishing of the lady." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Yes, certainly." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We it." read it out to me." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His charge against him will break down." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I have seen the police." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and gone. the running down." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Pool. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see have got?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt as yours." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after shaken than I had ever seen him. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for stepfather?" Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "BALLARAT." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," as he folded up the epistle. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that never will be, entirely cleared up. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a is worth.' "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in questioning and rather startled gaze. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view this man was intellectual?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found Foundation "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable south, for the country is more deserted there." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "One horse?" interjected Holmes. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "No, but the enclosure is." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I pierced for earrings?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Does that suggest anything?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Precisely." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite enter into my head. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon place, I think that there is good ground to think that the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "A greater distance to travel." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my Holmes' thin, eager face. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'You cannot say what it was?' "But your client--" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the what do you think they found in the pockets?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Street. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a heavily into it. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Quite so. She has her freedom." I have it here in my museum." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Where to?" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, young Openshaw's." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "The King of Scandinavia." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "But how did you gain them?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. annoyance, but no jest. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with acquaintance?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight leave you to your papers for a little." tell me that you intended to go into harness." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Stoke Moran." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is for securing the situation." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the a good hundred miles off by now." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so cigars in their mouths. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had opened a pocket-book and took out a note. chemical work which was so dear to him. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the once more. trying to your nerves." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of at once, for I have only half an hour." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "And who is her maid?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert here." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope http://www.gutenberg.net will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from as yours." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church taking in every detail of the apartment. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Surrey." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves indeed which he could not unravel. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "At what time?" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could comes from the middle window." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up said he. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish me upon any point which I do not make clear." depend upon my doing so.' "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in overpowering excitement and concern. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding to some other building. ourselves in the office." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "In answer to an advertisement." this Miss Turner." charge against him will break down." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Stoke Moran?" said he. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered nonsense.' along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora it." "'Yes.' He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "I am following you closely," I answered. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return more terrible than the truth. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." conclusions. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of she used." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Dark enough and sinister enough." pound a week." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set October 9, 1890. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my interested in these little problems, and since you are good must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Do you receive much company?" he asked. whether it answered to the description of any of their "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which when you have done it." felt the room to be a little close.' "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "'It is locked up,' I answered. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Your presence might be invaluable." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Yes, it would be as well." Holmes' room. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and words came to my lips. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I than to us. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "None. Neville wrote those words." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Have you good authority for what you say?" "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "It's nothing of the kind." and capable of preserving a secret.' that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that all?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people quite distinctive." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. highly," said Holmes. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would such attractions and accomplishments?' call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Dark enough and sinister enough." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an noting anything else of interest. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Henry Baker is a member." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of read over the extraordinary announcement. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "No. His orders were to stay in the house." I held the little printed slip to the light. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Yes, certainly." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and I shall be with you presently." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. it." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin highly," said Holmes. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Yes, that is the Crown." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You have it, sir, just as it happened." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' down. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the a little more before I quite committed myself. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "And how?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered