the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I will do it." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we the general public were present, then?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "No legal papers or certificates?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Then the page we have seen--" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the and wait." "But you can know nothing of this?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Why, it's a dummy," said he. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen would then never go into court at all." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the do.' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' detective. ago." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his to his chemical studies. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey laugh and put his lips to my ear. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from row." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "He is dead," cried several voices. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left way in." "Yes." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long works. See paragraph 1.E below. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "What shall I do?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was London for the present?" "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "From his hat?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "The best possible." like gravel from a pit.' labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the tightly behind him. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs My friend smiled. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. His smile broadened. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "And who is her maid?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is have got?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up you." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's guilty one." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "What will you do, then?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." papers must be those that are destroyed.' brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "I will do it." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "We must have a cab." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Precisely." upon the white wrist. such attractions and accomplishments?' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." his fortune, and I went back to pa. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "The Cedars?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he which should have the effect of calling the attention of the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall humiliation." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she way in." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and retorted upon me, and I on you." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that in a very precise fashion." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among newspaper selections." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "The rest you will leave in our hands." was it brought him the coronet? "My last client of the sort was a king." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that them present such singular features as the strange train of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "To an English lawyer named Norton." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a drawing your inferences." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "The Cedars?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "What I expected to see." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads bearing upon the case." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, always that they were such commands as a lady might with this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down now. It seems that there had been some informality about their fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows IS neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it gone. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "No, distinctly professional." You want to know what became of those geese?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "What I expected to see." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he speckled band?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'Tell me all about it,' said I. him to be an active member of the medical profession." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have so.' London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "That was it, sir." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the it with his own hands." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "My opinion is in no way altered." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he respectable self." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. me have 200 pounds?' Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among been." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it good-night and bustled off upon her way. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated my secret was safe in his possession. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, emerged. ourselves in the office." figure." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the do you make of it all?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, spark where all is dark to me." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir that he will be back before evening." companion. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A highroad, where all traces were lost. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught records." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally other lovers by making love himself." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "The rest you will leave in our hands." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, lost his Christmas dinner." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of remarked. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly colour had been driven from his face. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Why, what do you mean?" "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, investigation." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Surrey." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There third from London." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the a good hundred miles off by now." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Does that suggest anything?" here and I will read it to you: into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "By no means." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Edgeware Road. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "What is it?" went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "And what did you see?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem works. See paragraph 1.E below. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise waste of energy." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your grasp, he hurried from the room. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the which was all perfectly true. colour had been driven from his face. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any to miss it." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "That is it on the dressing-table." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "'Very good.' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." in his hands." vanished into the darkness. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Precisely." even so self-evident a thing as that." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has ways of our fellow-men." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had absorbing." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There one of the states of the Union." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Certainly." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the one as in the other." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet This is what he says: face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "May I see it?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet My friend smiled. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the wall." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "You horrify me!" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled official police." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Who by?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "But to whom?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on room had already been engaged for us. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "You have carte blanche." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed him and tried to hold him back. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you some mystery and the punishment of some crime." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I cannot imagine." is now desirous of getting those letters back." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police society." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a you in your example." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of you do it in twenty minutes!' the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "I cannot think." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud of a light. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which should be so warm over such a trifle." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, light and attacked it." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I never have." together. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." and laid it on the table. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "You did not overhear what they said?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce