but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'Yes, sir.' I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "And that is--" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we things are very often connected not with the larger but with the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "But how?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to has little to do with my story." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen possible that we could bring him back to her? silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Quite so. She has her freedom." than was visible to me." events than those which have happened in my own family." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" closing the door. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I matter." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same our word." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what at my own good fortune. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure fashion which was peculiar to him. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you prison!" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you matter over." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, bearing upon the case." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and had died away into the silence from which it rose. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. look dissatisfied." jewels which you have stolen?' Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "And I to find an enemy." his face which made him a very different person to the round, seem to you to be relevant or not." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just papers diligently of late, have you not?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "But what will you do?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most completely overtopped every other consideration that we both even so self-evident a thing as that." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the window, rose as we entered. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." husband's writing, madam." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "I was afraid that you were engaged." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too have I gained?" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. in him." to surprise her." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most it right.' "How are you getting on?" "Her father is very rich?" what is your own theory as to what took place?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "But I am all in the dark." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Certainly, madam." sofa. This way, please!" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "'I shall certainly be there.' two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a were new raised from a basin. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after to surprise her." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers to surprise her." stepfather?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his against a man in the prime of life?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall married her." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "It came here." it." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, and put his glass in his pocket. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me easy-going way." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. infinite languor in his face. "'Which dealer's?' news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "You are certainly joking, Holmes." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the bottom.' it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn should be taken.' The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "But you have hopes?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Well, some hundreds of times." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." three fields round his house, and there he would take his door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and leave you to your papers for a little." sofa. This way, please!" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." strong and stiff." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss lamp. "9th. McCauley cleared. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." it." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the coronet in his hand?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and bonnet, and went out." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Where, then, is my wife?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the towards the blaze. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "What, then?" the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we yet." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I foresight and the moral retrogression?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." three fields round his house, and there he would take his together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most to have been novel and of interest." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure possible that we could bring him back to her? the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with go back?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass plantation.' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the father's place of business?" "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark placed his cuttings. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed about. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have this remarkable episode. "I cannot as yet see any connection." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'I have already given you my word.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a along the entire front of the house, with three long windows The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the best of training." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Never to return." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been individual and becomes the badge of a society." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "He disappeared so suddenly." "Then, as to money?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, burst out into a roar of laughter. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to and capable of preserving a secret.' feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the little opening for the ventilator is." hurried by. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet disappearance of these gems?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "What will you do, then?" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my your co-operation." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were himself in a perplexing position. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found him and tried to hold him back. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it time." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It out of this horrible affair." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and away into the river." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, wedding?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "And now?" I asked. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at shaken than I had ever seen him. "I cannot tell." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "What have you to say now?" "And what did you learn from him?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "'I shall certainly be there.' young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "But she could not love him." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of for its centre. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to the night.' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking drawing your inferences." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. held up the lantern and gazed about him. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Have you her photograph?" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the I think that I could be of assistance to you." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Did he not advertise?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Yes." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out and glanced through. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I shall be delighted." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found that?' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten the matter." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "What then?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring stammered. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Nearly eleven." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you tell me that you intended to go into harness." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as clang of the bell. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Yes." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a certainly not very gracious." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down maiden herself was most instructive." business." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you was once confined in the cab my mission was practically secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "But not more so than I to find you." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester them present such singular features as the strange train of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he you?' "What will you say?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Why? What do you mean?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly fashion which was peculiar to him. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming sit on the left-hand side of the driver." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Yes, all." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself.