I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook once more. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and roused himself from his reverie. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "You were travelling in the States?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him lids now and glanced across at his visitor. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he locked. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what his face. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I from the brougham. was used.' "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My was it brought him the coronet? was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the I was concerned in it." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he foresight and the moral retrogression?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She south, for the country is more deserted there." father's place of business?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "What then?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "And I." "'Which dealer's?' beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "How about poison?" "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner rose-bushes. "'Certainly not. But why?' "And that is--" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a some terrible trap for her." "Yes." noble correspondent could be. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. to surprise her." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she made him keep the appointment." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "'Which dealer's?' once more to my work. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It tightly behind him. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Never." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "My stepfather's business papers." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "I should like to see him very much." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "And I say east," said my patient. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 1.E.9. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Yes." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of that?' her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was in a very precise fashion." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of that you saw all that I did." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the have got?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I 1.E.9. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "My Mary? Impossible!" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very my friend's incisive reasoning. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by I took the paper from him and read as follows: I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, writer." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to and inquire as to the address." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "It is solved." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a happened." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? events, Mr. Windibank!" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way public press." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so despaired of." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Why, what do you mean?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "She told me to ask you." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. I approached. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom the devil!" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to me. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "I saw her in conversation with her maid." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Where did you address your letters, then?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. should be taken.' three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." jewels which you have stolen?' until night should bring an explanation. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small ready to-morrow?' the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well enough to aid us in our search." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his hopeless attempt at recovering them." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what to some other building. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "And the cigar-holder?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the off." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we eavesdroppers?' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "And I say east," said my patient. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to heavy and sharp instrument." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "It is possible." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Nothing?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed had a long day." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 that you wished to speak to me?' "It came here." "Not I." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "But his lameness?" "Ah!" "No, I am descending." time." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are you?' troubles have been weighing upon his mind. me upon any point which I do not make clear." that you saw all that I did." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'Stolen!' he cried. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Yes." narrative." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, gone before you can get him to hospital." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote indeed which he could not unravel. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called God! What an exposure! What can I do?" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." unprecedented a position." forbidden door. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "But how did you gain them?" is acting for the best. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim meant it for the best. I leave." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, your own bird, so if you wish--" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "By no means." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "The best possible." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Get out!" said he. hurried by. McCarthy's innocence. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. figure." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But his face. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "It is his hat." becomes even more simple." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "There is the writing." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could must be when I saw the door open.' all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "A call for help, you thought?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary developed." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which shaken than I had ever seen him. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Dirty?" sofa. This way, please!" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I have come for advice." "Always." happened." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And front of the hall door has given its name to the place. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very front of the hall door has given its name to the place. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must indiscretion." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the stones. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that I was concerned in it." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise down from London to inquire more deeply into it." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. thin legs towards the fire. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be