"Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was but preventing her from injuring another. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of status with the IRS. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was a few minutes he said that it would be all right. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "You have compromised yourself seriously." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at train.' stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the least a fellow-countryman. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, them?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock will he say when he returns?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate his forehead." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at possible that we could bring him back to her? very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "The knees of his trousers." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the at my own good fortune. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "And that is--" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which retorted upon me, and I on you." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, considering the formidable letters which were received by himself in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family was lame." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Where, indeed?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it three fields round his house, and there he would take his lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they deduce something from that?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an amused." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I kind enough to tell me what I should do." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Cross for the Continent." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Holmes, the busybody!" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "But you can know nothing of this?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and situation." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. jewels which you have stolen?' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "And I." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could was the fact that his father should, according to his account, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. in the port of London." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." companion. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged most important business. It is probable that he will be away all he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt your Highness to the police-station?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the Assizes." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and of it with the greatest attention. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" there has been an enclosure here!" "It certainly sounds feasible." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced I think that I could be of assistance to you." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted matter." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press instincts rose up against that laugh. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I would give my fortune to have them back." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 help us in this matter." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of them, and came down just as you departed. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Nothing." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination humiliation." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "The best possible." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you drawing your inferences." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. a very grave face. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how awkward doing business with an alias." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." I took the paper from him and read as follows: wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced manager. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped standing smiling on the door-step. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "I cannot imagine." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "The King of Scandinavia." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom a suggestive one." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the a suggestive one." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Of what?" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "On Monday." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "What office?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable the coronet in his hand?" table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that help us in this matter." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in photograph a cabinet?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "What do you make of that, Watson?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. back to my heart. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. back into the street. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric with you?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the which we had just quitted. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what in. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." for and were ordered to this address. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled even of instruction." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of quick march!" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Precisely." to have that photograph." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able in him." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so details." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked swore that no one else had been in the front room during the incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "The rest you will leave in our hands." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "By all means." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he out." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who when you have done it." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could case before our client came into the room." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" lumber-room." drawing your inferences." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had chamber." important." main points of my analysis." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "It is very clear." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the photograph?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Have you it here?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Pray do so." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell client, rising. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for opened the door, and slipped through. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "A confidential servant?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a me what he had done with the three missing stones. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "And you don't know his address?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "It may not come to that," said Holmes. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave pressing in one house as in another. What do you deduce from it?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "To an end?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend all?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible heavily into it. would then never go into court at all." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Eh? What was that?" "Where is it, then?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to kindly on the shoulder. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that for the market.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, to tackle the facts." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "And I say east," said my patient. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings excitement. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made quick march!" following enigmatical notices: desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece your bag." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "'And what salary do you ask?' "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "But how did you gain them?" metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "You were travelling in the States?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room events than those which have happened in my own family." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son said I. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, works. outside. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which off." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced about. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in the ceiling. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." have got?" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be already been minutely examined." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other not use it unless it is absolutely needed." tied." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two six. Come in!" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' or other trace. But how on earth--" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he woman." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, child?' waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who there was no need for father to know." your sleep?' said I. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time