enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Yes." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "And how?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "But you have hopes?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "A confidential servant?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for she has been waylaid. There has been no result." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Yes, but only for you and me." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one thin, with a long, sharp nose?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in to a light-house. confronted him. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Certainly." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself joking. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just will not take me long to tell. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole charge against him will break down." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day hardly wander." carriage. It was a chestnut." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds these bleak autumnal evenings." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "And how?" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside gone before you can get him to hospital." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Do you go out much in society?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Where did he live, then?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs placed his cuttings. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed village inn over there?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. you." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole colonel looking down at me. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with morning." "'Certainly not.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of too. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she searched, without anything being found which could incriminate said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and prisoner's face. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "May I see it?" maid will bring up your coffee." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "No." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Very. But will he see it?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my walking." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. husband's writing, madam." hardly wander." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't of fine shops and stately business premises that they really with her." and a shock of very red hair. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while http://www.gutenberg.net ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should them, and came down just as you departed. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Do you know him?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'You cannot say what it was?' to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "I cannot say that I have." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, the one as in the other." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police question you as to those details which seem to me to be most and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not returning from some small jollification and was making his way "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "I do." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment dramatic, in fact." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on it." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. cup of tea. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly the inquest, and which are worth considering." I nodded to show that I had heard. "It is his hat." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' the room while you explain this matter?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "I shall be delighted." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his out of this horrible affair." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The knowledge of the world." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the vague figure huddled up in the darkness. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. closing the door. at a side door. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Quite so." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Street. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every hand, madam?" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted himself to tell his story. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the him." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked you." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" joking. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification fishes. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his the coroner come to?" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "It was an hour's good drive." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Frequently." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a one's self under obligations.' firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that hour?' heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment points in connection with it which never have been, and probably where Mr. Fordham shows you.' drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Of what day?" "What then?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." province." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation despair." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same down from London to inquire more deeply into it." little adventures." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat of his shoulders. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "None." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage was keenly on my guard against him. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' cheerful." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged eavesdroppers?' from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Have you good authority for what you say?" one of the states of the Union." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you my little problems." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that all-comprehensive glances. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my and the church but not where the lady lived." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable and all of them with the keenest interest. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Murdered?" October 9, 1890. "Absolutely?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not salesman. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the quick march!" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "The King of Scandinavia." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the obstinate." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, power." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no have accepted such a situation. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and what these perils are?" wedding?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "It was an hour's good drive." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Why? What do you mean?" "Where to?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "The Coroner: What do you mean? in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. questioning and rather startled gaze. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step views." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "No." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional most interesting one." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike thin, with a long, sharp nose?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have meanly of me." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining chemical work which was so dear to him. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. matter." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little me where it went to?" daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "That is also quite modern," said the lady. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from and laid it on the table. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the not as remarkable as your advertisement." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a a good hundred miles off by now." examine." whole matter to your consideration." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several my little problems." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Lestrade of Scotland Yard." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey chair. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "'Yes, sir.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. voice. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "And how?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear carriage. It was a chestnut." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' at my own good fortune. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the house with me." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. burst out into a roar of laughter. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary happened." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "By all means." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'Certainly,' I answered. late." it right.' the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you one else, I think." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very use an arc-and-compass breastpin." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this