fat-encircled eyes. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that nonsense.' feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we weighed down with some great anxiety. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank peculiar to him. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Never,' said I. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and have this put in the evening papers." that hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Could he throw no light?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Mrs. Toller serenely. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. held up the lantern and gazed about him. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of leave you to your papers for a little." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. there is a decided draught." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Oh, yes, easily." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. I nodded to show that I had heard. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and to talk it over. was lame." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend words came to my lips. friend's singular character. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at 'I should be able to look after that for you.' journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all letters?" I nodded again. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed think you a quite exceptional woman." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the followed. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a shoulder; "he's all right." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Were they all fastened this morning?" Henry Baker is a member." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. depend upon your compliance." man. I know him from the photograph." are windows in it, of course?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Never to return." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let whereabouts. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock For additional contact information: yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "You were travelling in the States?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and will not take me long to tell. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father in your London, you will know that the office of the company is may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you invisible to me," I remarked. will not take me long to tell. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss conclusions. where we are going." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "What do you make of that, Watson?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." purpose equally well?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how may have an influence upon European history." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident locked." said he. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Yes." "No more words. Get out!" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father became a certainty. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. rose-bushes. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this open." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the colour had been driven from his face. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "No." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Witness: Nothing definite. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "May I see it?" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions that you saw all that I did." as this. Pray let me have the details." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an into the bag, and made for the door. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the presume?" the date of his supposed suicide." "Then I shall certainly come." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Pope's Court. who was a member of your goose club." in the hope of finding them." orange pips. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his one's self under obligations.' gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'Yes, it was gone.' flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "So I heard. You have him here?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were his huge brown hands. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at had picked up in the wood. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend disturbance in my wife." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "What, then, did Peterson do?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has where we are going." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar formed some opinion?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do confronted him. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" over with notes and figures. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "How about poison?" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "What have you to say now?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "One of his hands." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I am following you closely," I answered. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made coat-tails." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "One of his hands." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of his knees, staring into the fire. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in coroner's jury." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must which I could not give. He asked for Alice. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Indeed! Whose, then?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may British peeress.'" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "And now?" I asked. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Yes." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "But the mystery?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. cost them two and thirty pounds." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have established a very serious case against the son of the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Thank you. Pray proceed." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than over with notes and figures. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Entirely." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. grasp, he hurried from the room. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman in his hands." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of The summons was a brief and urgent one. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to true." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would The telegram which we eventually received came late one night could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'I have heard so.' rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the coroner come to?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in extraordinary contortions. Eyford." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, not interfere, come what may. You understand?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "From his hat?" Mrs. Toller serenely. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Sutherland. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. at a side door. "No, but the enclosure is." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet the driver. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Who by?" "'What then?' I asked. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are is four-and-twenty." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "And how?" confronted him. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course matter." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit conduct the inquiry." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to them?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich secret." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's the room while you explain this matter?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by touch that coronet?' applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but gigantic client. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and him." "Perfectly so." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "The murder was done with it." "Yes, I have one waiting." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Then you may be so with me." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. strong and stiff." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Was the window open?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without to talk it over. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my the address that was given us in the advertisement. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project business." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Seven!" I answered. I leave." in a friendly supper." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and might have a private word with us. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "And you thought he was pulled back?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Pray do so." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend did not hear it also.' idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and capable of preserving a secret.' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Very much so." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." your only hope of safety." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was to talk it over. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot wedding?" present." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been best detective that ever lived. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself quick march!" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I I nodded again. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in was it brought him the coronet? affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." coroner's jury." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was desk. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his you for a few hours?" return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and depend upon your compliance." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any records." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old thin legs towards the fire. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't a suggestive one." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Where did you address your letters, then?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless voice, changing her seat as requested. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" it right.' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in