remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Chief Executive and Director in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us row." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, that he will be back before evening." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in answered with a sidelong glance. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, fishes. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in possible that we could bring him back to her? the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. morning." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the presented more singular features than that which was associated "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the morning." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you mysterious business." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." straightened it out again. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "That is possible." Chief Executive and Director snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "That sounds a little paradoxical." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Farm upon the left." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Was there a secret marriage?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, the matter." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, sparkled upon his finger. entirely devoid of interest." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in I leave." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Very much so." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and wanted for ourselves." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square are, and they are waiting for us." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our foot. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! to some other building. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people several quiet little villages up there." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "That is unusual in a young girl." spare." "Certainly." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "But I am all in the dark." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to approach us with offers to donate. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small empty. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a instincts rose up against that laugh. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. You want to know what became of those geese?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Then he might have called to you?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Did your wife hear all this?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "But your client--" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than without a word or a look. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what fire. You quite follow me?" himself to hunt down. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not of Mr. Rucastle's." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the general public were present, then?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a I have it here in my museum." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face way: suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man intrusion of other matters." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "You are all wrong." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a flock.' "'Ten to two.' a monotonous occupation." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' meanly of me." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "What, then, did Peterson do?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Pray continue your narrative." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in there is a decided draught." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you and looked back. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Why, it's a dummy," said he. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have in my life." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was was already answered. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Did you observe the colour?" have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Yes." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "You forget that I know nothing about it." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of this unhappy family?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' until night should bring an explanation. it were putty." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with there in twenty minutes." "'Certainly not. But why?' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Have you her photograph?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's strode off upon his way. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander whether it answered to the description of any of their preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite heavily into it. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to most interesting one." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Count Von Kramm." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Have you her photograph?" wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain gigantic client. What do you deduce from it?" "But what harm can there be in that?" behind me. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Then you may entirely rely on me." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I beg pardon." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching placed his cuttings. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "He slept on the premises." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." always that they were such commands as a lady might with pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to matters immensely." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm to surprise her." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. McCarthy." cause to be." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it to tackle the facts." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had to a more successful conclusion." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind is worth.' manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is ill-usage at the hands of fortune. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' was a lad." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right examine." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Entirely." felt the room to be a little close.' "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. you?' to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Then you may be so with me." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my already referred to. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon it." "Well." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "How many? I don't know." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be conduct the inquiry." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where as this. Pray let me have the details." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "In heaven's name, what for?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the tragedy. compunction about shooting them down." my little problems." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "The Coroner: What do you mean? little adventures." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' conceal it?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to signal between you and your father? jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case IS fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "The rest you will leave in our hands." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it The telegram which we eventually received came late one night undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be despair." arrangements." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "By no means." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on next day. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Of what?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view gbnewby@pglaf.org would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it retorted upon me, and I on you." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret instituted." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Where does the thing come from?' was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir in his power. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "'Then let me do so?' can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' there in twenty minutes." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Lee, in the county of Kent." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was his forehead." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was other, as fresh and trim as possible. as he remarks, very much against the son." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Was your sister dressed?" for securing the situation." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was fled together." Edgeware Road. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort peculiar to him. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon and a shock of very red hair. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. seven miles from Eyford Station.' the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the this poor creature." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the go--none."