galvanised. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our train.' black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking indeed which he could not unravel. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "To ruin me." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken to have that photograph." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for indiscretion." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "That is possible." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his imbecility!" he cried. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. garden below. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "No." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out brandy and water within his reach. back to my heart. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Cross for the Continent." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat to some other building. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the night.' "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a of." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, posted to-day." "But I have heard all that you have heard." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I this remarkable episode. about. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was you?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to entirely lost his self-respect." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence when you have done it." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in lips." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Well, but China?" and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I would give my fortune to have them back." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes weighed down with some great anxiety. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "It must be recovered." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing noble correspondent could be. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., you want, then?' child?' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Breckinridge is his name." in his hands." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Indeed! Whose, then?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the clanging. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which lamp in his hand. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his do.' you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great intrusion of other matters." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more touch that coronet?' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of name is different." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "How did that help you?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this several quiet little villages up there." "Well?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a depend upon your compliance." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so this remarkable episode. the dangers which encompass me." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his that he will be back before evening." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from is so. I know all about McCarthy." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." interested in these little problems, and since you are good had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "I was afraid that you were engaged." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "'A dozen yards or so.' hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their strode off upon his way. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and conceal it?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." infinite languor in his face. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the child." good for you to do.' will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "And how?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now me what he had done with the three missing stones. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity it. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "We were both in the photograph." me. John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the station." I was concerned in it." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Deserted you?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter evidence," I remarked. "And you can do nothing until then?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat peculiar to him. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it one or two very singular points about this room. For example, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon detained." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant secret." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt unclasping of his long thin hands. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. instituted." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" begin with, and I had not got mine yet." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing showing my impatience. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would disturbance in my wife." "How did you trace it, then?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to know that the truth is known." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and no precautions can guard against." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Sutherland. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who dear old homesteads?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Witness: Nothing definite. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "About a month then." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Nothing." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three of fine shops and stately business premises that they really enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with papers." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Dr. Gregory B. Newby for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." are, I think, all that we need." conceal it?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing meant." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "But what is it you wish?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "We were both in the photograph." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "How did you trace it, then?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a forehead. DISSOLVED. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "My dear Holmes!" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark heavy and sharp instrument." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Yes, they were peculiar boots." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Did you become engaged then?" the loss of it. "No, I had a dozen." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon arrangements." "No bad?" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his to take care of herself." "In answer to an advertisement." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Farm upon the left." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "What are they?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much nice household for a young lady." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by bill, which interests me deeply." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. tightly behind him. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise I. to-night's adventure." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. hair?' "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly distance from the station, and there we found the young lady but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." entirely devoid of interest." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was a good hundred miles off by now." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had letters?" down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "By all means." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep at once, for I have only half an hour." "I was mad--insane." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird opened a pocket-book and took out a note. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. one of the states of the Union." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to beyond words. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods upon the sideboard." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "What then?" asked. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the row." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working there was no need for father to know." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and may never be exposed to such a temptation." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, Count Von Kramm." back alive. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Holmes, the busybody!" speckled band?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "'I shall certainly be there.' roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, success. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right his cane at the bell-pull. when your master had gone out." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "'It is locked up,' I answered. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "In what way?" asked Holmes. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. main points of my analysis." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and been able to understand it, in a very few words. power." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I am to be neutral?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." bearing upon the case." "The rest you will leave in our hands." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my then?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." redistribution. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Why did you pick him?" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Her father is very rich?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector you for a few hours?" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Miss Holder?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "It was a confession," I ejaculated. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an what is your own theory as to what took place?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Will you go?" "None." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which nonsense.' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an to-night?' "Witness: I must still refuse. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the wedding?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a enter into my head. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "The gentleman I describe." certainly do as you advise." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see interested in these little problems, and since you are good arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself.