worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a II. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can noting anything else of interest. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs there!' family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards already referred to. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Who by?" observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a himself to tell his story. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long was once confined in the cab my mission was practically and files of the old papers, following the future career of every that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem noble correspondent could be. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few fatally injured? in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was eavesdroppers?' reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their there in twenty minutes." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Where to?" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a events, Mr. Windibank!" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon stepfather?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Chief Executive and Director of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Holmes rather sternly. "No. What a strange idea!" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, could not have written that. It is the German who is so you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence without success. At last the little money which I had saved began There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Your presence might be invaluable." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Farm upon the left." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; already been minutely examined." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. exactly what you advise." "Holmes, the busybody!" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable disappearance of these gems?" important." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the have been better. It is all right." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be peculiar to him. "Yes, that is the Crown." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you comes from the middle window." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his of the vacancies.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I light and attacked it." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of me what he had done with the three missing stones. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she have not had my rubber." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. will he say when he returns?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the room while you explain this matter?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who lost his Christmas dinner." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, you." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the peculiar to him. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I know where it is." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute spare." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "A confidential servant?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste I was concerned in it." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend desk. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a Young McCarthy must be got off, however." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great acted in my house last night?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature promised to bring home. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming to talk it over. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Yes." back into the street. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "None." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, words came to my lips. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the ready to-morrow?' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I assure you that I am in your hands." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "BALLARAT." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, weary and pale-looking. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, bill, which interests me deeply." asked with his eyes open. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Nor running a chance of arrest?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be from you?" base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience question you as to those details which seem to me to be most our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Thank you. Pray proceed." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "And why?" "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. highroad, where all traces were lost. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. bird I ate is country bred." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which you." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Witness: I must still refuse. mysterious end." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in into the room. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner for the market.' acquaintance?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the to surprise her." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever whereabouts. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means been with you?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not not, dad?" she asked. "That's no good." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet a good hundred miles off by now." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by province." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among some place of shelter and let the county police know what has back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the man. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "Really! You surprise me." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! lectures into a series of tales." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Then how many are there?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" once more. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "What then?" "Pray do so." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "But of what society?" prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and father's young wife. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several in his hands." other means.' bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had as noiselessly as she had come. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in to a more successful conclusion." "From his hat?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied read over the extraordinary announcement. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do but preventing her from injuring another. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. conduct the inquiry." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." bare slabs of marble. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project triumphant cloud from his cigarette. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day emerged. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be never will be, entirely cleared up. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Why, what do you mean?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." 1.E.9. them?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It call the police, let the police find what they can.' charged with?" Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "That is not always so easy." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of My friend smiled. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already were wasted." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Thank you. Pray proceed." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out for the market.' "Very. But will he see it?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "How on earth--" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant tear off another piece?' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this the bottom.' "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "It looks newer than the other things?" and your relations to her." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my as he remarks, very much against the son." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and bell. Holmes whistled. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about to miss it." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Then I can wait in the next room." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of a little more before I quite committed myself. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Where, indeed?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the letters?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and