such person." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and have this put in the evening papers." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not footfalls from the street. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly begin with, and I had not got mine yet." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At quick march!" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a His smile broadened. there!' "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "What then?" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and bedroom door." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, and have this put in the evening papers." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary may never be exposed to such a temptation." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." seven miles from Eyford Station.' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room himself in a perplexing position. "'Which dealer's?' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and you do it in twenty minutes!' "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "I would pay ten." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in public press." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the best of training." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Really! You surprise me." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'What, the red-headed man?' 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Where did you address your letters, then?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but could not have written that. It is the German who is so the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "I should like to see him very much." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other a very grave face. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "What, then?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," murdered man." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, client, rising. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the from you?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and it. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune clang of the bell. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "That is easily got." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "You did not overhear what they said?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Certainly, madam." the so-precious time, but come!' donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." head. So long, then!" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against to surprise her." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass where she found matters as described by the last witness. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was it right.' earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so door?" be there in time for your coming." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor nonsense.' hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most train from Paddington which would bring you there at about sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Yes?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that ago." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our married her." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "I was mad--insane." "'I have already given you my word.' was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders weigh very heavily upon my conscience." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this that "'Is purely nominal.' it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, yourselves in at night?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I writer." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'Most admirably.' the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever floor. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "He might." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence persecution?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in persecution?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his as noiselessly as she had come. always that they were such commands as a lady might with kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb said I. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a new acquaintance to Baker Street. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to success. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so present." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "No. His orders were to stay in the house." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock such person." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Then I shall certainly come." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "But you have hopes?" heavy and sharp instrument." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." village inn over there?" met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "By train from Waterloo." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and forbidden door. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very the loss of it. "Proceed, then." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You companion. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these written. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. wedding?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are room had already been engaged for us. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie national property. I was determined that the law should have its inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely at my own good fortune. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "I am still in the dark." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Will you go?" sooner or later she must fall a victim. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my suddenly upon us." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow nights." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his had this final quarrel? "It must be recovered." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. them, and came down just as you departed. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, all-comprehensive glances. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns such person." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has begun to whiten, even as mine has." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Which are?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. even so self-evident a thing as that." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "His face fell immediately. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might bonnet, and went out." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. seven miles from Eyford Station.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Literary Archive Foundation "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and prisoner's face. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" me upon any point which I do not make clear." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, them, and came down just as you departed. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary window when the police appeared." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an think you a quite exceptional woman." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, just called myself is not exactly my own." "None." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, of the way of danger. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I way: "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "May I see it?" would apply.' Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Well?" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just fluttered off among the others. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the I approached. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Why did you pick him?" round and wave him away like that.' to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "She told me to ask you." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a my room." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he him to be an active member of the medical profession." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there his wife has ceased to love him." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a whole matter to your consideration." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. lips." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "It goes to the housekeeper's room." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." way: inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "And I say east," said my patient. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The child?' "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these redistribution. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "In heaven's name, what for?" bird I ate is country bred." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts a little more before I quite committed myself. feature." heavily into it. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin absolutely follow my advice in every respect." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become in this note: Leadenhall Street--and--" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the served to weaken the effect. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not which our visitor detailed to us. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a appeal." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate fat-encircled eyes. wedding?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some residence of the great financier. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and be there in time for your coming." indeed happy." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Clair, of Lee." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "So I have heard." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather woman who has had her own way to make in the world. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the woven round him. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened behind me. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the standing smiling on the door-step. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "No. His orders were to stay in the house." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence into the room. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "What then?" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Have you her photograph?" ready to-morrow?' me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Yes, it would be as well." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." letters?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem call the police, let the police find what they can.' "It surprised me." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be