fashion which was peculiar to him. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "It may not come to that," said Holmes. dear old homesteads?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Your French gold?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want once more for Briony Lodge. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the in a friendly supper." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Why, what do you mean?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no point our research must commence, and we will begin it by putting in the horse. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I call the police, let the police find what they can.' dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Will you go?" had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "'Ample.' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you shall not find me ungrateful." "Then the page we have seen--" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "What office?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "'Oh, no.' neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you touch that coronet?' might help us?" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between him to go away.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to whereabouts. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. row." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Not I." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "I will get her to show me." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room any." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to tension within him. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is your bag." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." You want to know what became of those geese?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little me what he had done with the three missing stones. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? to me. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual not use it unless it is absolutely needed." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in true." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "There are none." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. could not have written that. It is the German who is so "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Have you good authority for what you say?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, your co-operation." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly some place of shelter and let the county police know what has but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "I never have." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger mysterious end." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "The rest you will leave in our hands." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which of this gang." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I once more for Briony Lodge. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was in one or two places in England?' examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were your billet.' open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between unclasping of his long thin hands. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Edgeware Road. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I charge against him will break down." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." past. bearing upon the case." your room." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of should be so warm over such a trifle." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped round with crates and massive boxes. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to since then to throw any light upon what became of him." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." is four-and-twenty." "Precisely." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted cost them two and thirty pounds." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread train.' "Dr. Becher's." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "He said that you could solve anything." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Who was the criminal, then?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, During two years I have had three consultations and one small purpose equally well?" waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'Then let me do so?' his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Where did you address your letters, then?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Eyford." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Yes, it was twisted." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "I am armed." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. you in your example." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "I have seen the police." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical woman." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the it were putty." it. "To ruin me." electronic works lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. that I may have something better before very many minutes are when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but business in the City. She little knew what. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "And why in hopes?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "I fear not." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet became a certainty. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. discontent upon his features. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I like that before?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really in your London, you will know that the office of the company is said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of you want, then?' spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Yes, all." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "What is it?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "How do you know, then?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I am all attention, madam." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "A client, then?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I guessed as much." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair confronted him. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an it." strong reason behind." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed beyond words. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get You can understand that this register and diary may implicate is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike The summons was a brief and urgent one. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat possible that we could bring him back to her? there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," dead, shall be safe with us." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Pray do so." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual bird of prey. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of throat." "'And the work?' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of thirty. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the bottom.' any more." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat was lame." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Holmes' room. any more." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the My friend smiled. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." as yours." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and always that they were such commands as a lady might with without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed outsides of the windows. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the get her out of the way." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "And Miss Sutherland?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." ran thus: tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so hands. than to us. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they is," said he presently: once more to my work. "'A dozen yards or so.' painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little wanted for ourselves." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, arrangements." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Only as much as we can deduce." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "You horrify me." should be so warm over such a trifle." held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." of the one which your family is now devouring." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" happened." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "How did you deduce the select?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Which are?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, man. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there father's place of business?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the coroner come to?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Edgeware Road. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little answer." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, bird I ate is country bred." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "By no means." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to from you?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and about. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have suggested at once that there must be a communication between the every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss