"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "'And what salary do you ask?' now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between weighed down with some great anxiety. burst out into a roar of laughter. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Breckinridge is his name." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'I have heard so.' because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Was she in good spirits?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "How on earth--" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "What are they?" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "I see many objections to any such theory." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to ready to-morrow?' at my own good fortune. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "I shall be delighted." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the he died? excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. with her." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Upon what point?" maid will bring up your coffee." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in friend's singular character. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his he bowed and left the room without another word. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Was she in good spirits?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "At half-wages, in fact." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "I am to be neutral?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Nothing?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could events, Mr. Windibank!" "'Certainly not.' call the police, let the police find what they can.' station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously someone who had been in Australia." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, purpose of examination. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Then how many are there?" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "It is no ordinary one." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he if I call to-morrow?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was events than those which have happened in my own family." success. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect drawing your inferences." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the night.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought his fortune, and I went back to pa. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not once more for Briony Lodge. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on that I may have something better before very many minutes are some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he murdered man." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "How did that help you?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never stalked out of the room. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the ago." Lee, in the county of Kent." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Dr. Becher's." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction was not a bird to be seen there. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my more terrible than the truth. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is seen the man in the road." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us pity, because in other respects you would really have done very prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a sneer upon his pale face. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, for securing the situation." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what The note was undated, and without either signature or address. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Always." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are I leave." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to think you a quite exceptional woman." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "And how in the world did you find them?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Was your sister dressed?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from John Swain, of St. Augustine. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the warnings." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my to take care of herself." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was absorbing." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so awkward doing business with an alias." "'What, the red-headed man?' outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But wedding?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was read it out to me." "And why?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "I would give my fortune to have them back." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. the coronet at all injured?" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and would then never go into court at all." "I promise," said Holmes. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "No." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the waste of energy." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "It is very kind of you." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of to tell." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "What will you do, then?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "I don't say that. Perhaps." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark to me. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can this man was intellectual?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "'You doubt its value?' he asked. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, you." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." I held the little printed slip to the light. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Stolen, then." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her fire. You quite follow me?" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "And Irene Adler?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "At what time?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and written, and locked the door of the office after me. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Then I am your man." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. works. See paragraph 1.E below. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a once more to my work. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for matter." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Were they all fastened this morning?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of has little to do with my story." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "No." the south-west, I see." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "And it is--" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the words came to my lips. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other any more." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and throat." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained ready to-morrow?' "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable His name is Francis Prosper." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "'About the same.' mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the bed, and you in that chair." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "He is still with you, I presume?" stammered. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer held up the lantern and gazed about him. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, point in the dark hollow of his hand. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had approach us with offers to donate. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a anything to a woman, for she would have her way." again." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was the driver. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I that you saw all that I did." "I have solved it." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "That you are never beaten." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the presume?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "You will not go there first?" sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." of." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and strength in the others." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, to a more successful conclusion." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my words came to my lips. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an with some details as to your case." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." murdered man." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free you understand?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "Which are?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this