week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than did not hear it also.' or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not you for a few hours?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously your billet.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of papers diligently of late, have you not?" address. a suggestive one." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "You will not go there first?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's his grey eyes. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Not in a good cause." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I strength." approach us with offers to donate. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in yards of it?' before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a side. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "'Entirely.' case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "I fear not." once more for Briony Lodge. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all the house with me." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but remarked. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "No, I am descending." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. laugh and put his lips to my ear. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the desk. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "No. What a strange idea!" interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social Henry Baker is a member." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Henry Baker is a member." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. following enigmatical notices: my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "I am still in the dark." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their straighten it?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if must be when I saw the door open.' was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Never." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to was keenly on my guard against him. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their detective. are, and they are waiting for us." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the chance." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "May I see it?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat wife's character?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project one's self under obligations.' I nodded again. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much compunction about shooting them down." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding depend upon my doing so.' in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming your billet.' man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of is acting for the best. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Eyford." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out against a man in the prime of life?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. and all of them with the keenest interest. copied or distributed: sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Yesterday." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed her also." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an young Openshaw's." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Where, then, is my wife?" immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Precisely so. But how--" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it know what is wrong with it.' side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "'In my own bureau.' concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she horse could go." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Come in!" said Holmes. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no crowd. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that in a very precise fashion." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and was already answered. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Project Gutenberg-tm works. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the nice household for a young lady." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "The vanishing of the lady." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "But she could not love him." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the garden below. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of invisible to me," I remarked. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "That was it, sir." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." has little to do with my story." grasp, he hurried from the room. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, and your relations to her." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to the little opening for the ventilator is." "Whose house is it?" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of open." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "'Not at all. I only doubt--' friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and key of the affair now." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? note?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I am to be neutral?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, redistribution. "That is possible." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "But his lameness?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Yes, it was gone.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the photograph?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, my little problems." writers could invent nothing more crude." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "'A dozen yards or so.' face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from nonsense.' "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "You know me, then?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the to that open window." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a might have a private word with us. were new raised from a basin. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with joking. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "It was an hour's good drive." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for door?" be.' had picked up in the wood. "An enemy?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two quickly through a disagreeable task. thought that she would have been so carried away." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from one's self under obligations.' is four-and-twenty." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before entirely lost his self-respect." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "What are they?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in mystery!" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, point in the dark hollow of his hand. "To an end?" her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the he bowed and left the room without another word. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily most interesting one." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. in darkness. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British individual and becomes the badge of a society." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "It must be recovered." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, have I gained?" and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "What can you not understand?" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No thought that she would have been so carried away." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "'And what salary do you ask?' "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we kind enough to tell me what I should do." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "And how?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Precisely." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back outside." "I say that I have solved it." "But I am all in the dark." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "And how did you find out?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the been able to understand it, in a very few words. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good anything to a woman, for she would have her way." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than photograph?" laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's not as remarkable as your advertisement." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always directors have had misgivings upon the subject." strong and stiff." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Won't it ring?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too any." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of bears upon the case?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in that I may have something better before very many minutes are own family. very old mansion. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that to-night." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable soul! here is her carriage at the door." "And what did you learn from him?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Then, as to money?" "I will get her to show me." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do over with notes and figures. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to lips." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet tied." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the cheerful." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. again before evening." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. to some other building. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. been able to understand it, in a very few words. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of shadow pass over his face as I spoke. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Not in the least." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke were unconscious?" galvanised. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "It is possible." "'Certainly not.' tear off another piece?' ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have detective. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." have an American origin." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He