nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in yards of it?' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "I have my revolver," said I. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable three of the beryls in it, was missing. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has head. So long, then!" question," said Holmes, smiling. is acting for the best. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His investigation." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the weighed down with some great anxiety. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "What!" he roared. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few other means.' interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason used to be." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. pierced for earrings?" to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." opportunities to fix the problem. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, him!" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "That is not always so easy." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and not come at once?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and next day. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest think, you have already met." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "But I am all in the dark." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I should like to see him very much." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom really the only notable feature about the thing." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will must be when I saw the door open.' least a fellow-countryman. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "None." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "But what harm can there be in that?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' gentleman's clothes. best detective that ever lived. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "But what will you do?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate new acquaintance to Baker Street. instincts rose up against that laugh. "And who is her maid?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the and all of them with the keenest interest. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small article?" already referred to. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "No?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "I am still in the dark." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Never to return." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to in his hands." Holmes." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is your sleep?' vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank that he will be back before evening." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his acquaintance?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "A confidential servant?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that is entirely a question of barometric pressure." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of only touch the interest." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "No, I think that I'll take it." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the nursery. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "My last client of the sort was a king." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who whatever might befall. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on easy-going way." companion imperturbably. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. once more for Briony Lodge. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six mysterious business." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to writers could invent nothing more crude." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an outbreak?" that he has suffered." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the matter." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He this as likely?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Quite so. She has her freedom." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "She showed me, as I told you she would." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "My private note-paper." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from with you?" "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know my room." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Surrey." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Yes, I have one waiting." crime." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Certainly." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had be there in time for your coming." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. colour had been driven from his face. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been interest. They are important, you understand, without being over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while front of the hall door has given its name to the place. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth wedding?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'Then let me do so?' father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private this truth that in these little records of our cases which you such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "He is still with you, I presume?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." help us in this matter." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" questionable one." "And the cigar-holder?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "I have my revolver," said I. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "Then I am your man." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very morning." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, if she died from some sudden fright." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the words came to my lips. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as was used.' LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Very much so." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Very murderous indeed." "It is his hat." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry been lifted and conveyed somewhere." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "He said that you could solve anything." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "You will not go there first?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of to talk it over. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would to tell." "Pray do so." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Then, as to money?" to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves her also." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of your co-operation." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. tightly behind him. papers." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Then, as to money?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted upon the shelf for the interim." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than you give your casting vote to?" Holmes' room. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were woman." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the matter?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could learned something! Where are the gems?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." been shamefully used." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "But I have heard all that you have heard." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "No sign of it?" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that had picked up in the wood. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Was the window open?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "They are typewritten," I remarked. "No more words. Get out!" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the character. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Pope's Court. evidence," I remarked. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "I shall be delighted." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "How did that help you?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "I cannot tell." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely pity, because in other respects you would really have done very you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a bird of prey. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the DISSOLVED. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "What shall I do?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "This photograph!" "And it is--" respectable self." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. from the brougham. his huge brown hands. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" own family. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." late!' set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in which are rolled in Rotterdam." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted and looked back. national property. I was determined that the law should have its These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, note?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "I am in hopes that she does." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, you understand?" companion quietly. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from