Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "At the wedding breakfast." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Gutenberg-tm License. house for five minutes.' Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Certainly." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was tail." be best to do. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "The King of Scandinavia." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout weigh very heavily upon my conscience." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that business in the City. She little knew what. discontent upon his features. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. chance." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "No. What a strange idea!" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Chief Executive and Director to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "To an end?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." gbnewby@pglaf.org the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in bare slabs of marble. heavy and sharp instrument." highly," said Holmes. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me is," said he presently: mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which o'clock is it?" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "I beg pardon." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw the loss of it. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of morning." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources felt?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "She will not sell." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "It was a confession," I ejaculated. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the hurried by. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I meanly of me." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Certainly." "Game for a morning drive?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's fluttered off among the others. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. My friend smiled. which we had just quitted. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "His face fell immediately. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I have seen the police." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Then what has happened to him?" will not take me long to tell. "And it is--" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, DAMAGE. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the promised to bring home. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Do you receive much company?" he asked. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" and that he would see to anything that turned up. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six to that open window." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your I am not easy in my mind about them." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Texas, I think." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, I approached. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most following enigmatical notices: many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "By all means." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his as he folded up the epistle. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or His smile broadened. gigantic client. companion. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "'Where could I find him?' "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has will not take me long to tell. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment a monotonous occupation." congratulate you again." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking matter over." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of present." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there acquaintance?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of there!' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and reach." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Only as much as we can deduce." "Pray do so." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "So it appears." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "But you have hopes?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "But he might be a bachelor." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire own family. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "'Yes, sir.' fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Proceed, then." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden brandy and water within his reach. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in joking. the roots. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might pictures, libraries, or plate. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, said he. your own bird, so if you wish--" the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency way in." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "And how did he make his money?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "'I have already given you my word.' solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Your presence might be invaluable." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions said he. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age retorted upon me, and I on you." said I. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "You are all wrong." and capable of preserving a secret.' certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in too. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was must compliment you." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "It is to him that this trophy belongs." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Now, then, what's the last entry?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the in my life." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I know where it is." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go husband's writing, madam." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very mysterious business." "Nothing." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of heavy and sharp instrument." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous once more to my work. "'I have heard so.' short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I directors, with the result that you have seen." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just prepare for the new role I have to play." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat attention." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Texas, I think." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get indiscretion." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I am sure." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to face and glided from the room. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this some water from a caraffe. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was written, and locked the door of the office after me. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant ordinary clothes on?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the upon the white wrist. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "What have you to say now?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a with her." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press where Mr. Fordham shows you.' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy you came in." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time straightened it out again. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Then you may be so with me." tell me that you intended to go into harness." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He mystery may be cleared along those lines." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the coronet in his hand?" "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or any little problem which you may submit to me." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "No." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "9th. McCauley cleared. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "I came to find a friend." "But who is he?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this once more on the important position which you have been fortunate understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his clanging. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' arrested. You then--" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Bought." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "But she could not love him." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing to a light-house. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my seem to you to be relevant or not." whole matter to your consideration." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to detained." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. nice household for a young lady." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out a monotonous occupation." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "That is possible." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. observed. there!' "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate during the last few years, and there are many noble families to with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really crime. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "How did you deduce the select?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "I have hopes." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the