"Certainly." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." have I gained?" in the dead of the night?' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Your French gold?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked use an arc-and-compass breastpin." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in with the outside air!" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable married her." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of light and attacked it." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found least a most suspicious remark." desk. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Which are?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. to some other building. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the meant it for the best. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Certainly." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, side. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "No?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he 1.E.9. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. point in the dark hollow of his hand. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I main points of my analysis." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black in the port of London." character. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a sneer upon his pale face. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have examine." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three brought there to personate someone, and the real person is ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Well, but China?" now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "But how did you gain them?" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. footfalls from the street. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Yes, it would be as well." "Yes." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high distance from the station, and there we found the young lady act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Ten will be early enough." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible some city in a dream. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my was not a bird to be seen there. License. You must require such a user to return or expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter spark where all is dark to me." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his his wife has ceased to love him." hands. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Certainly." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and enough to aid us in our search." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to strong reason behind." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "What! Had he lost his wife?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "He might." comes from the middle window." "Then what has happened to him?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "One of his hands." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Yes." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. which our visitor detailed to us. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and will take you up to see the machine.' simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "None." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "No, I am descending." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard one's self under obligations.' in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, back alive. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'Why that?' I asks. said he at last. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. better in every way that they should make their position a little morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a awkward doing business with an alias." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir do you make of it all?" her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in him and tried to hold him back. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Tired-looking or fresh?" crowd. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "About a month then." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Literary Archive Foundation was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible will be renamed. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always ready to-morrow?' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" been." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is woman." "And how did you verify them?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off said he. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and case-book, which he consulted. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many 1.E.9. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel question you as to those details which seem to me to be most that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside events than those which have happened in my own family." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," II. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, signal between you and your father? qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the the window, rose as we entered. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "You have carte blanche." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am hair?' office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just you in your example." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Well, but China?" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon call you and give you the chance." my room." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, to me. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "How often?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the investigation." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting again, where I was soon asleep. than to us. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start observed. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps seven miles from Eyford Station.' be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up look dissatisfied." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "But how will you look?" "Never." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of begun to whiten, even as mine has." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. enter into my head. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "I cannot say that I have." has little to do with my story." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "But I am all in the dark." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' to-night." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "It was." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to which it had come upon my father." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held me what he had done with the three missing stones. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It for securing the situation." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "A confidential servant?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "What have you done?" asked Holmes. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away one of the states of the Union." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of present." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "She walked into the breakfast-room." "No, I had a dozen." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, again." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Yes?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Yes, it was twisted." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "My Mary? Impossible!" character. said Mr. Holder. "It is half-past ten now." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call him!" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "And you thought he was pulled back?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "But how did you gain them?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a something of him before." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in problems help me to do so." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to electronic works which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, him!" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "But the mystery?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Deserted you?" "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Not I." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter of your young ladies.' "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable province." had a long day." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "I cannot imagine." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and wedding?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "What, then?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "And now?" I asked. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had the warnings." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. key of the affair now." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "That's no good." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the nonsense.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "And you can do nothing until then?" to surprise her." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the fear." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his envelope. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this his eyes and forehead. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which details." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Gutenberg-tm License. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' any more." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. the warnings." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Who by?"