common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered him, that man would not have given me such complete information him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear read it out to me." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an tapping his fingers upon the table. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. do you make of it all?" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "One?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Did he not advertise?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we man. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Yes, from Horsham." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have least a fellow-countryman. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that detective. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather investigation." Eyford." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Pray do so." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "And why in hopes?" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "On your arm?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, it. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "A thing like a cleaver," said he. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Who by?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "No." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter absorbing." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you http://gutenberg.net/license). life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just in his power. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I say it is." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Yes." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "That is not always so easy." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "That is it on the dressing-table." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "It is half-past ten now." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the have I gained?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond been able to understand it, in a very few words. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the and looked back. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in just called myself is not exactly my own." "What!" he roared. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his his wife has ceased to love him." should be taken.' "How did he come?" as yours." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "How on earth--" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "None." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of writing, and yet I know it well." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary prepare for the new role I have to play." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De back to my heart. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. in this way: received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Was the window open?" of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this companion quietly. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the be. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "How did you deduce the select?" far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in shall use the carriage to-night." "Nothing." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from advice." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich fatally injured? husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning begin with, and I had not got mine yet." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was business in the City. She little knew what. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such side. it means?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers six. Come in!" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. and it need not interfere very much with one's other the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they point our research must commence, and we will begin it by threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands four million human beings all jostling each other within the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet could gather together that I was able to avert another public chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "I cannot think." child?' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "'Is purely nominal.' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of colour had been driven from his face. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to answered with a sidelong glance. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he national property. I was determined that the law should have its Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was do.' The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "'Yes.' had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; me have 200 pounds?' "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "The best possible." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His until night should bring an explanation. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Which are?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Holmes' face clouded over. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "In which, sir?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of stalked out of the room. "Dark enough and sinister enough." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can companion imperturbably. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been look dissatisfied." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then only touch the interest." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was matters immensely." "Why, what do you mean?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "How many? I don't know." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a gigantic client. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Yes." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor 11:15.' could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got showing my impatience. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the lectures into a series of tales." "Who by?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook than was visible to me." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts plantation.' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "So I heard. You have him here?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she sneer upon his pale face. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it had a long day." compunction about shooting them down." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding I took the paper from him and read as follows: examine." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I examine." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Cross for the Continent." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Nothing." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "'Ten to two.' existence." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. entirely lost his self-respect." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. other lovers by making love himself." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid 11:15.' crowd. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for During two years I have had three consultations and one small foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The someone who had been in Australia." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Yes." photograph a cabinet?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord I took the paper from him and read as follows: "You forget that I know nothing about it." "He disappeared so suddenly." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to upon a handsome competence. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social straightened it out again. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a grasp, he hurried from the room. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much country, and eventually married, without anyone having a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Quite so. She has her freedom." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "But she could not love him." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about girl said." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old becomes even more simple." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three were unconscious?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the only touch the interest." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. one of them." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Thank you. Pray proceed." like gravel from a pit.' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and brandy and water within his reach. Holmes' room. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of together. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we how narrow had been my escape. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive bell. Holmes whistled. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Sutherland. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Stoke Moran?" said he. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing such attractions and accomplishments?' logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the loss of it. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in fled together." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the