"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked to have been novel and of interest." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been together. "Entirely." all-comprehensive glances. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but and glanced through. disturbance in my wife." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Not particularly." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to some other building. was already answered. vault. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "No, thank goodness, she did not." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would recover the gem." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Did your wife hear all this?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and mystery." clanging. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "How did he come?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of mystery!" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Holmes, the busybody!" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, on in his house." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as asked. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. quick march!" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going situation." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "The Coroner: What do you mean? prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and spare." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in to go into your room and bar your shutters?" up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "But of what society?" "When did it break out?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster British peeress.'" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do will he say when he returns?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square in this way: in a friendly supper." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official during which he might have communicated with his friend the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." the window, rose as we entered. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and been." villagers almost as much as their master. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was you." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "There is the writing." "Eh? What was that?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was the night.' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Yes, I have one waiting." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. away into the river." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." are, and they are waiting for us." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Nothing?" these bleak autumnal evenings." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Holmes rather sternly. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your unprofitable." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "It may not come to that," said Holmes. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, straightened it out again. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Foundation "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said address. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Who was the criminal, then?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, already referred to. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the green of the new foliage. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "'Yes, sir.' "Then I do not see the point." "'Ten to two.' They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Yes?" train.' convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his south, for the country is more deserted there." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is my secret was safe in his possession. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "That was it, sir." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if said he, "my real name is James Ryder." disturbance in my wife." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on kindly on the shoulder. "Yes." looking up at the numbers of the houses." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "No, but the enclosure is." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I don't believe it." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "'And what salary do you ask?' across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "But what harm can there be in that?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "I promise," said Holmes. late." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him unprofitable." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be as yours." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Quite so. She has her freedom." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Game for a morning drive?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow jewels which you have stolen?' often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the most interesting one." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it clanging. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the so-precious time, but come!' helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it tied." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Chief Executive and Director return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Yes, it was twisted." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "No, thank goodness, she did not." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "My dear Holmes!" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a delirious. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "It surprised me." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "The rest you will leave in our hands." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Serpentine Avenue. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the and effective." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the room while you explain this matter?" "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "So I have heard." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, we went to search for him, face downward in a little you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our at once, for I have only half an hour." society." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. tell me that you intended to go into harness." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Why, what do you mean?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief have one." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." chambers. less than 26s. 4d. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through laugh and put his lips to my ear. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "No, I had a dozen." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most and the colonel ushered me in. upon a handsome competence. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards behind me. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands conduct the inquiry." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." gbnewby@pglaf.org young Openshaw's." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what in this note: that?' shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The wedding?" hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a as he remarks, very much against the son." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "But you can know nothing of this?" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "The Coroner: What do you mean? her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "You are hungry," I remarked. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A meanly of me." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, him to go away.' "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a detained." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "What office?" thought that she would have been so carried away." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father whole matter to your consideration." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and gbnewby@pglaf.org remarked. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "His face fell immediately. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the stable lane now." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under works. formed some opinion?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him for its centre. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other of campaign. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "'Never.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually yards of it?' "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, Mary, has deserted me." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." have I gained?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "My stepfather's business papers." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his quick march!" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe For additional contact information: "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "We must sit without light. He would see it through the be sorry for having acted so harshly." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" crime. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little acquaintance?" Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the house with me." "It's nothing of the kind." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the I am not easy in my mind about them." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "The murder was done with it." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' one of them." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it and capable of preserving a secret.' Arthur Conan Doyle Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "10th. John Swain cleared. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Won't it ring?" forehead. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Then, how do you know?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as himself. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been