the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "'I have already given you my word.' remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of whole matter to your consideration." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "An enemy?" "Then you may be so with me." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, row." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I shall be delighted." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. burst out into a roar of laughter. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a my secret was safe in his possession. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the bed, and you in that chair." "Then I do not see the point." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This James Windibank. Voilà tout!" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your was lame." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "What I expected to see." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand I was concerned in it." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic conceal it?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. careless servant girl?" McCarthy." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the he bowed and left the room without another word. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the stones. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us chill to my heart. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "You saw the ventilator, too?" round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be foresight and the moral retrogression?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which fire. You quite follow me?" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman obstinate." "'I have already given you my word.' me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it Surrey." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "'I am sure if I had known--' misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'You cannot say what it was?' He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he his face. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes hereditary King of Bohemia." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a photograph?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it more terrible than the truth. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. and no precautions can guard against." "Who by?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." awaited us upon the table. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from words came to my lips. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set of the way of danger. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "'Not at all. I only doubt--' which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." were wasted." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the morning and make my own way in the world.' Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my should be taken.' the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the awaited us upon the table. it. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be the night.' and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the question. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a him, that man would not have given me such complete information "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it meant." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest cigars in the box." Street. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." matter." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in key turn in the lock." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must examine." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. lips." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Yes, sir." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any purpose equally well?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable the roots. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, thin legs towards the fire. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his with you?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in considering the formidable letters which were received by himself suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Then I can wait in the next room." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Not I." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the look dissatisfied." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and will be renamed. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which and your relations to her." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." fasten all the windows?" "I have come for advice." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his been lifted and conveyed somewhere." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power hard-headed British jury." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my the very morning of the wedding." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'I shall certainly be there.' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I when you have done it." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" character. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Whose house is it?" spare." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "I am following you closely," I answered. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the Mary, has deserted me." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot his huge brown hands. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband burst into a hearty fit of laughter. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in someone who had been in Australia." records." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my to a more successful conclusion." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "How many? I don't know." way: his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in I leave." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "In San Francisco, a year ago." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, as the one I chose?' framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "I will do it." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears chill to my heart. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call noise which awoke you from your sleep?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass because she had spent so short a time in this country that she sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "No more words. Get out!" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is You can understand that this register and diary may implicate could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." fatally injured? populous neighbourhood." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We to Leatherhead. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the said he. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Eyford at 11:15.' taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man telegram would bring me down to your help." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the night.' villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "By no means." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two DISSOLVED. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several as this. Pray let me have the details." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which pressing in one house as in another. Holmes." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." them present such singular features as the strange train of confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs noting anything else of interest. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of shoulder; "he's all right." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" giving me time to thank him. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were of Mr. Rucastle's." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and glanced through. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed My friend smiled. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "My dear Holmes!" appointment with me for six o'clock?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and as yours." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "But not more so than I to find you." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "'What are you doing there?' he asked. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The of Mr. Rucastle's." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "And why in hopes?" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United country, and eventually married, without anyone having a completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black observed. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Yes, I promise.' playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "But not more so than I to find you." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One back alive. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place not fit the lock." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "I know where it is." outbreak?" any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "That is easily got." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" it." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "But she will refuse." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should