"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Deserted you?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. should be taken.' I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more green of the new foliage. have had none more fantastic than this." coat-tails." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and hopeless attempt at recovering them." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had pictures, libraries, or plate. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the spare." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan I nodded to show that I had heard. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by some terrible trap for her." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" outside. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Yes, only one." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet conclusions. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "Very truly yours, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in or in danger--" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "I will do it." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the appointment with me for six o'clock?" "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "By no means." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really instituted." to-morrow." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "It missed him, then?" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be that there was nothing in it, after all." the Assizes." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "'What do you call purely nominal?' "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Perhaps I have." "And how did you find out?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people delighted to hear it," he said. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Then I am your man." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same companion imperturbably. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "I have come for advice." his eyes and forehead. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in made his money." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window now. It seems that there had been some informality about their we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a astonishment. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the hardly wander." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which taking in every detail of the apartment. possible that we could bring him back to her? have been better. It is all right." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "An accident, I presume?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where straightened it out again. away to you." depend upon my doing so.' gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "A greater distance to travel." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the London for the present?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from to miss it." "I came to find a friend." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, passage and a tap at the door. outbreak?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "What office?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "From his hat?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Yes, at the mines." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector have got?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him writers could invent nothing more crude." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated tell him that I know him to be innocent." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went the roots. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "By no means." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the compunction about shooting them down." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his you." said he. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped served to weaken the effect. directors, with the result that you have seen." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Now, then, what's the last entry?" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Have you her photograph?" "I know where it is." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the south-west, I see." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "And Miss Sutherland?" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the whatever might befall. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, noble correspondent could be. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "It missed him, then?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these think, you have already met." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a of fine shops and stately business premises that they really old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door derbies." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you digesting their breakfasts at home." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, to-morrow." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "But how?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own strength." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. horse could go." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "Ten will be early enough." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup had a long day." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "'Yes, it was gone.' search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "'It is locked up,' I answered. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "But how will you look?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project three of the beryls in it, was missing. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great ashen face. Leadenhall Street--and--" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the less than 26s. 4d. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and legal crime." time." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "'I have already given you my word.' back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of be. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. been shamefully used." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low views." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great distinguish the words: individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Why? What do you mean?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is McCarthy." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was room. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Stolen." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and a suggestive one." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Nor running a chance of arrest?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in at once, for I have only half an hour." gentleman's clothes. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so desk. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, off." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds there were one or two details which were new to me. But the the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with miles off. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen ventilator." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own undoubtedly my uncle's." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, should be so warm over such a trifle." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Yes." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more never will be, entirely cleared up. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Nothing." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "I have solved it." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of his forehead." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I cannot tell." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, and shall probably return to London by the evening train." true." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from himself to hunt down. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I assist you in forming an opinion." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Street. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered everything which you would wish to know." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length this Miss Turner." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone cost them two and thirty pounds." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "The rest you will leave in our hands." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "What, then?" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the hour." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from you in your example." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She were wasted." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Can I be of assistance?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'Never.' About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, foresight and the moral retrogression?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as be sorry for having acted so harshly." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he interest. They are important, you understand, without being have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "I cannot imagine." "I have seen the police." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Street. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a fuss that is made over them." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the affair. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in lamp. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "You will not go there first?" "No. What a strange idea!" "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and was a loud and authoritative tap. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Will you bet, then?" matter." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge appeal."