Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "No, I am descending." said he. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black them?" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? for its centre. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be opened a pocket-book and took out a note. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Yes." closely." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow at my remark. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a down in his armchair and closing his eyes. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Then the page we have seen--" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his door?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." fled together." "Yes." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "No." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten there in twenty minutes." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Awake, Watson?" he asked. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between morning." to-night?' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "I cannot say that I have." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the room while you explain this matter?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly opened a pocket-book and took out a note. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Witness: I must still refuse. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "I cannot imagine." hair?' to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she writer." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there shag which I had seen upon the previous night. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a was not a bird to be seen there. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the station." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address late." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second hands. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which outside." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will not personally threatened." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "'Yes, sir.' fatally injured? confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative points to suicide?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait him, that man would not have given me such complete information page at http://pglaf.org always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "My dear Holmes!" This is what he says: "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the His smile broadened. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle them present such singular features as the strange train of When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes round with crates and massive boxes. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "What steps will you take?" I asked. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it subject to the trademark license, especially commercial I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "No. His orders were to stay in the house." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, take the flies, but not before." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Perfectly so." to change my dress. official police." "One of the highest in England." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's of a light. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you even so self-evident a thing as that." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her I nodded to show that I had heard. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. when your master had gone out." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He dead, shall be safe with us." third from London." way: she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a rat could hardly pass through." "Very much so." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that characteristics, but those are the more obvious." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Precisely." placed his cuttings. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. meanly of me." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "I say that I have solved it." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "'How far from the body?' "Deserted you?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." suddenly upon us." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the coroner come to?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, made his money." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are back alive. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and them, and came down just as you departed. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go prisoner's face. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, answer." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my conclusions. what do you think they found in the pockets?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "None." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their You can understand that this register and diary may implicate call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" of it with the greatest attention. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now some water from a caraffe. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Certainly." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. this as likely?" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I answered that I had not. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a the best of training." public press." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of question you as to those details which seem to me to be most expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Just look it up, then." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "At the wedding breakfast." miles off. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "'I am sure that I do not know.' importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think standing smiling on the door-step. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no will he say when he returns?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is already referred to. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I thin legs towards the fire. "No. What a strange idea!" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he certainly do as you advise." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my horse could go." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. here and I will read it to you: "Seven!" I answered. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat unclasping of his long thin hands. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I himself to hunt down. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the such person." your troubles." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it meanly of me." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "What do you mean?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the you give your casting vote to?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your will not take me long to tell. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, This is what he says: reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Nearly eleven." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "You have but to name it." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Nothing?" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a enter Dr. Roylott's room." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let details should find their way into the papers. Inspector DAMAGE. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to society." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between really the only notable feature about the thing." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in chill to my heart. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been from you?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Miss Holder?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a into the room. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was power." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "I am about to be married." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be I have it here in my museum." ago." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and could gather together that I was able to avert another public eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and effective." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked gone before you can get him to hospital." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how nothing with him." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not things are very often connected not with the larger but with the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been case-book, which he consulted. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to his chemical studies. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously was lame." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into sparkled upon his finger. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building question you as to those details which seem to me to be most preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "And why?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom fishes. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the a good hundred miles off by now." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate