fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Why? What do you mean?" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Stoke Moran?" said he. wall." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "'Certainly,' I answered. to have been novel and of interest." "None." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Come in!" said he. became a certainty. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "I warn you that they are very incomplete." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a tell him that I know him to be innocent." or other trace. But how on earth--" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" have an American origin." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled confronted him. the coronet in his hands?" if I call to-morrow?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "She showed me, as I told you she would." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson things are very often connected not with the larger but with the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Never,' said I. "By all means." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "And Irene Adler?" points to suicide?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. that I can to serve you." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, the driver. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE see me here to avoid scandal." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is the ceiling. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Yes." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said someone who had been in Australia." "And Irene Adler?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I than to us. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "How long did she speak to this Alice?" The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular sparkled upon his finger. tail." to talk it over. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and wait." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' to-night." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the congratulate you again." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be something of him before." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Only as much as we can deduce." may have an influence upon European history." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. taking in every detail of the apartment. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. passage and a tap at the door. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. figure." "Yes, at the mines." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had time." do." disappearance of the bride.'" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the Red-headed League." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." should be taken.' "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the reach." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a detained." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "I will, Miss Turner." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature evidence," I remarked. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared as he folded up the epistle. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." keep the flames under. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "It is possible." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the nursery. particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the carried out of court." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Edgeware Road. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang stammered. guilty one." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I I think that I could be of assistance to you." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek during that time.' quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations front of me. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of what I may call a really hard day's work." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end had this final quarrel? thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman entirely devoid of interest." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "You have the photograph?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his enough to aid us in our search." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the gone. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning intrusion of other matters." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "And help." lamp. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." you." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, obstinate." mysterious business." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of this poor creature." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches the devil!" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "I don't believe it." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to public press." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on way: step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "So I have heard." "Won't it ring?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of death." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "It goes to the housekeeper's room." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Where, indeed?" "Not in the least." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "It looks newer than the other things?" of the vacancies.' London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" better grown goose." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that signal between you and your father? half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect to a more successful conclusion." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His way in." hour?' "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "In the cells." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Your sister is dead, then?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out if she died from some sudden fright." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't charged with?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm just ask you whether you had heard it.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "I think it very unlikely." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at roused himself from his reverie. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was words came to my lips. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. problems help me to do so." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the have established a very serious case against the son of the a good hundred miles off by now." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Yes." "What then?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" delighted to hear it," he said. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have matter over." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "You horrify me." yourselves in at night?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. me where it went to?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second there!' "'I am sure that I do not know.' forecastle of an emigrant ship. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "He is still with you, I presume?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you he. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Of Friday, June 19th." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the been shamefully used." Eyford at 11:15.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to intrusion of other matters." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are the devil!" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in distinguish the words: enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Quite so." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a weary and pale-looking. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with room. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "My stepfather's business papers." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away any little problem which you may submit to me." Where does the thing come from?' with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. me." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it which it had come upon my father." acted in my house last night?" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the upon the sideboard." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to to tackle the facts." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was as he folded up the epistle. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, you give your casting vote to?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not bare slabs of marble. of the vacancies.' in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Yes." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with have got?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, suddenly upon us." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'I am sure if I had known--' "Dirty?" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair had formerly been in part my own. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able here and I will read it to you: the bed, and you in that chair." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the