society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age me. You must get home instantly and act." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was important." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would coroner's jury." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you on re-entering her father's house?" "I see many objections to any such theory." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "You horrify me!" mystery." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Then, how do you know?" in the hope of finding them." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock six. Come in!" You can understand that this register and diary may implicate from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Here?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "No." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such with the outside air!" she might be summoned. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that him to be an active member of the medical profession." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and me what he had done with the three missing stones. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. the morning and make my own way in the world.' reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no power." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your promised to bring home. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His papers must be those that are destroyed.' often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Yes." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the see a sister of mine apply for." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "He said that you could solve anything." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "'I have already given you my word.' English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Stolen, then." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner matter over." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and least a most suspicious remark." individual and becomes the badge of a society." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest she slowly sank and died without having recovered her light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Oh, the cause is excellent!" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be that I am arrested." questioning and rather startled gaze. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that upon a handsome competence. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "But I have heard all that you have heard." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Then he might have called to you?" "And why in hopes?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The you, my dear young lady?' half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "That was it, sir." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. always that they were such commands as a lady might with side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Did he not advertise?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the been." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all had picked up in the wood. nothing with him." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several down in his armchair and closing his eyes. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my newspaper selections." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the reach." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was said I. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair examine." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "I shall be delighted." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client conclusions. your billet.' than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use one or two very singular points about this room. For example, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in think you a quite exceptional woman." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? unclasping of his long thin hands. trying to your nerves." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" that, and I came down." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." attention." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent depend upon your compliance." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Pray let us have it, for all that." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my chamber." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover impression behind it as though a window had gently closed never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Perhaps I have." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." conceal it?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay threw himself down with his face to the pillow. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the disappearance of these gems?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "The rest you will leave in our hands." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some it." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to not, dad?" she asked. "And your father? Did you tell him?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Pray continue your narrative." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, meant it for the best. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use union?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive prisoner's face. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my observed. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. floor. the dangers which encompass me." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Holmes, the busybody!" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "How did you trace it, then?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly posted to-day." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are definite end. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain yet." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst outbreak?" "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "What!" he roared. even so self-evident a thing as that." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "What! Had he lost his wife?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before relief. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I think that it is very probable." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from prove to be little relation between the different incidents of brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "'And the work?' "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the had formerly been in part my own. lost his Christmas dinner." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two outside. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional you came in." that the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel mystery." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the important." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of matter over." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Witness: It was. families. Now for the facts. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation this as likely?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Leadenhall Street--and--" observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "None." asked. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Not in the least." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I acted in my house last night?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Very much so." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before danger is over." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss frequently gained my first real insight into the character of and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at him. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Certainly, madam." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary burst out into a roar of laughter. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and than was visible to me." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting key turn in the lock." to arrive at through this?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and pierced for earrings?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Has he come with you to-night?" families. Now for the facts. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked formed some opinion?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady that I may have something better before very many minutes are combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more might have a private word with us. do." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Only as much as we can deduce." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that strange features which were associated with the two crimes which however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is into the bag, and made for the door. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Because he was handy and would come cheap." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Not social, then?" indeed happy." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Yes." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should them?" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Yes, from Horsham." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation weighed down with some great anxiety. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave of the vacancies.' tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Lestrade of Scotland Yard." to Leatherhead. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal father's young wife. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to arrangements." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and