"When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the take the flies, but not before." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing started for the Temple to see my husband. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." delirious. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Then I do not see the point." "Well, but China?" cigars in their mouths. flock.' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Cross for the Continent." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have some terrible trap for her." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he trifles." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier upon the white wrist. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place even of instruction." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side such person." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If point our research must commence, and we will begin it by anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a said he. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "I say it is." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was upon the shelf for the interim." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "How did you trace it, then?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, spark where all is dark to me." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "The best possible." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the where she found matters as described by the last witness. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Oh, fresh and glossy." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. passage and a tap at the door. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the stones. row." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Pool. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room business matters.' "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There in the dead of the night?' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to it were putty." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, tapping his fingers upon the table. only touch the interest." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers are, I think, all that we need." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already most interesting one." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "'And the work?' never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his hand, madam?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "In heaven's name, what for?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the lamp. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he made him keep the appointment." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out in this note: the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in I have it here in my museum." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' again on its way. "'Ample.' the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which bled considerably." astonishment. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, coroner's jury." Miss Holder?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a at my own good fortune. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing joking. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "'I am sure if I had known--' of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." his eyes and forehead. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I shall not find me ungrateful." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He client, rising. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Could he throw no light?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. me. You must get home instantly and act." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest are, and they are waiting for us." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." pressing in one house as in another. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "You horrify me!" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. might have a private word with us. questioning and rather startled gaze. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons better grown goose." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "I do." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my of your young ladies.' never came back." "You saw the ventilator, too?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Did he not advertise?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" outside. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Not particularly." during that time.' "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I know where it is." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The highly," said Holmes. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is behind me. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner place, I think that there is good ground to think that the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Holmes' thin, eager face. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one your Highness to the police-station?" photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we here and I will read it to you: aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "When did she vanish, then?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been where she found matters as described by the last witness. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the Assizes." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and weighed down with some great anxiety. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "And the cigar-holder?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "A confidential servant?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" of the one which your family is now devouring." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "I think it very unlikely." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just strength of mind to control. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of and put his glass in his pocket. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and light and attacked it." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "And how in the world did you find them?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. despaired of." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" be.' business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." towards the blaze. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Holmes. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Indeed! Whose, then?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I to arrive at through this?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he dear old homesteads?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The that I am arrested." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily way in everything. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Stoke Moran." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'And the work?' I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "No sign of it?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'Never.' states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "But how could you guess what the motive was?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "We have tried and failed." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "How about poison?" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Young McCarthy must be got off, however." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was me upon any point which I do not make clear." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I 11:15.' that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "No bad?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Will you go?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who believe that I should never have any practice at all. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to to-morrow." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as once more for Briony Lodge. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "About a month then." little trying to do so much typewriting?" sneer upon his pale face. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as there when the Rucastles went away." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "So I heard. You have him here?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to how narrow had been my escape. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to kind enough to tell me what I should do." answered with a sidelong glance. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Where, then, is my wife?" approach us with offers to donate. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the of a light. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. his knees, staring into the fire. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Then, as to money?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "I do." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "What of the rat, then?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his looking up at the numbers of the houses." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would evidence," I remarked. long narrative. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "But not more so than I to find you." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Yes, it was twisted." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your