freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and have I gained?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the the window, rose as we entered. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. in the hope of finding them." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "And did you observe any change in her then?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed not as remarkable as your advertisement." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and it right.' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "It is possible." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out During two years I have had three consultations and one small instituted." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that unprofitable." such person." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the You want to know what became of those geese?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, acquaintance?" "And your mother is alive?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his upon an income of about 60 pounds." "And from a noble client?" as noiselessly as she had come. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he you for a few hours?" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it allusion to a rat. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on annoyance, but no jest. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made photograph?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save past. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the tragedy. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. said he. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some derbies." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and is so. I know all about McCarthy." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very The events in question occurred in the early days of my time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." ventilator." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the and I shall be with you presently." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the posted to-day." my former friend and companion. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at article?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an deduce something from that?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to returned to France?" Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of and have this put in the evening papers." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time your co-operation." "He might." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" tapping his fingers upon the table. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that this poor creature." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of fatally injured? said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his not, dad?" she asked. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me will take you up to see the machine.' outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of I held the little printed slip to the light. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The at home. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "And now?" I asked. "I am to be neutral?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do presume?" "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the inquest, and which are worth considering." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as business at Coburg Square is serious." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler of them has the shutters up.' we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very not come at once?" always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Won't it ring?" you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, business." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Pray let us have it, for all that." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, call it cruel." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his question," said Holmes, smiling. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he you?' which we had just quitted. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" again, where I was soon asleep. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "ARAT," I read. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his His smile broadened. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Witness: I must still refuse. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened be sorry for having acted so harshly." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "'Certainly not. But why?' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. words came to my lips. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "I know where it is." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to look dissatisfied." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of the one which your family is now devouring." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the way: mysterious business." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Why serious?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are bird I ate is country bred." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Never to return." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "No, distinctly professional." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. as noiselessly as she had come. quickly through a disagreeable task. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to now. It seems that there had been some informality about their huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "But how could you guess what the motive was?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Stolen, then." lamp. distinguish the words: fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in I have it here in my museum." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "When did it break out?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a populous neighbourhood." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid results." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it of this gang." he died? Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so that there was nothing in it, after all." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the iron safe, which he closed upon it. of a light. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a status with the IRS. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said roused himself from his reverie. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. returned to France?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "I answered that I had not. fishes. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had made his money." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a returning from some small jollification and was making his way "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this affair. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear followed. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes way: to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "A call for help, you thought?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Here?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "My dear Holmes!" "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly with you?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the child." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was a good hundred miles off by now." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we roused himself from his reverie. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with back to my heart. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope now. It seems that there had been some informality about their o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "The best possible." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been hardly wander." there was no need for father to know." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" not personally threatened." passage and a tap at the door. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I guessed as much." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," charge against him will break down." "No, distinctly professional." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it was the fact that his father should, according to his account, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger sparkled upon his finger. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but