have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in open." peculiar to him. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I am about to be married." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses know all about it," he snarled. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took fish-monger and a tide-waiter." outside. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "'What, the red-headed man?' platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Breckinridge is his name." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton John Swain, of St. Augustine. becomes even more simple." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Of what?" "But she could not love him." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who photograph?" "What then?" have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "It surprised me." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position will be renamed. "And your mother is alive?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature impression behind it as though a window had gently closed 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would politicians who had been sent down from the North. maiden herself was most instructive." floor. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they galvanised. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been the so-precious time, but come!' hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took ourselves in the office." think that he is innocent?" hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and generous with you in money matters.' is entirely a question of barometric pressure." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Pool. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin lectures into a series of tales." 'please.'" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary know all about it," he snarled. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "That is it on the dressing-table." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every just ask you whether you had heard it.' and laid it on the table. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "No, but the enclosure is." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "No." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "And sit in the dark?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "But she could not love him." an introduction to him?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you whether it answered to the description of any of their devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Where, then, is my wife?" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Of Friday, June 19th." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them it right.' Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "What is it?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I don't believe it." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Why did you pick him?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from indiscretion." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner there were one or two details which were new to me. But the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be are windows in it, of course?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Seven!" I answered. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had instituted." your billet.' "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "About a month then." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "None." down. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The became a certainty. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "'Yes, sir.' tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I was mad--insane." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "You have compromised yourself seriously." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and of it with the greatest attention. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Pope's Court. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to meant it for the best. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Perhaps we may make them less so." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "What!" he roared. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down this man was intellectual?" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and at home. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I will try. What is it?" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" at home. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Then what has happened to him?" inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "She walked into the breakfast-room." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "No." as this. Pray let me have the details." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' towards the blaze. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you it right.' "Yes." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "I should wish to." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the up this clue while it is still hot." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet of your young ladies.' of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to there has been an enclosure here!" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the The summons was a brief and urgent one. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" ventilator." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other hardly wander." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I think it very unlikely." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "You horrify me." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his down. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may signal between you and your father? what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to which our visitor detailed to us. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hour?' style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Why? What do you mean?" my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face side. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against fatally injured? her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a 11:15.' wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I am following you closely," I answered. bird I ate is country bred." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Certainly." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while disappearance of the bride.'" "You will not go there first?" at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which in this note: performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works paper in the air. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." should be so warm over such a trifle." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again was not a bird to be seen there. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" few hundred pounds.' problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was would then never go into court at all." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' considering the formidable letters which were received by himself concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious any." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set bill, which interests me deeply." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent as this. Pray let me have the details." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely thirty. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "You are all wrong." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. chance." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his bore every mark of being an average commonplace British that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "And that is--" "What! You do not mean bodies?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." invisible to me," I remarked. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head voice. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Yes." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not that he has suffered." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Holmes' thin, eager face. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the I have it here in my museum." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "But what will you do?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "My opinion is in no way altered." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. annoyance, but no jest. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Dr. Gregory B. Newby whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Lee, in the county of Kent." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "What office?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "You horrify me!" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their that you saw all that I did." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid hurried away. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a entirely devoid of interest." head. So long, then!" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out