"They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "And for present expenses?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips round and wave him away like that.' at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. was a lad." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of province." constraint." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "It is possible." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of beg that you will break it off." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you cigars in the box." shall not find me ungrateful." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic at a side door. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "So I heard. You have him here?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Entirely." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Thank you. Pray proceed." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do have had none more fantastic than this." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" window when the police appeared." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "One horse?" interjected Holmes. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a least a most suspicious remark." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a papers." "So I am. Very much so." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. a good hundred miles off by now." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy at home. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No that I can to serve you." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in coroner's jury." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon behind me. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "I warn you that they are very incomplete." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." What do you deduce from it?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "That is not always so easy." begun to whiten, even as mine has." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "You horrify me." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "But who is he?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Can I be of assistance?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "By train from Waterloo." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "You are hungry," I remarked. matter over." "It is a murder, then?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the pierced for earrings?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the even so self-evident a thing as that." goes." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "That is unusual in a young girl." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the and inquire as to the address." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "One of his hands." were unconscious?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third who was a member of your goose club." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the matter." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is returned to France?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "No." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "On the contrary, this is the right side." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the as he remarks, very much against the son." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Was she in good spirits?" "Not him." villagers almost as much as their master. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Entirely." "I have a cab outside." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "I cannot imagine." "Of Friday, June 19th." gone. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, spark where all is dark to me." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He good for you to do.' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save next day. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and affection." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Yes." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then wife's character?" investigation." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his hardly wander." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" happened." one's self under obligations.' forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in that I may have something better before very many minutes are Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor flock.' and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "What will you do, then?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "No more words. Get out!" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'Oh, no.' with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Count Von Kramm." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in window when the police appeared." to a more successful conclusion." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I bachelor.' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "What can you not understand?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "I see many objections to any such theory." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall entirely devoid of interest." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so individual and becomes the badge of a society." "We were both in the photograph." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and them present such singular features as the strange train of saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort thin legs towards the fire. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So papers." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the appeared upon the scene." What do you deduce from it?" what these perils are?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, of Mr. Rucastle's." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had reach." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to take the flies, but not before." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "It came here." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the with you?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Watson," he said cordially. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing upon an income of about 60 pounds." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; forbidden door. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." showing my impatience. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "But you were on a friendly footing?" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'It is locked up,' I answered. voice, changing her seat as requested. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I do." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Holmes." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "'What do you call purely nominal?' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Doctor, of the paper and the date." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, four million human beings all jostling each other within the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. formed some opinion?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in instincts rose up against that laugh. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and them present such singular features as the strange train of casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's distinguish the words: by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I is," said he presently: himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy possible that we could bring him back to her? was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more bare slabs of marble. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "What are they?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Then what has happened to him?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Nothing." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never newspaper selections." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand call you and give you the chance." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly seven miles from Eyford Station.' "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, than to us. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many go back?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Have you it here?" one of them." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a just called myself is not exactly my own." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his experiences." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the date of his supposed suicide." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in may have an influence upon European history." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy fish-monger and a tide-waiter."