run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt during which he might have communicated with his friend the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a brought there to personate someone, and the real person is companion. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Yes, he did." "But what will you do?" wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, speckled band?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was sparkled upon his finger. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "My photograph." "Your presence might be invaluable." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the ceiling. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'What are you doing there?' he asked. invisible to me," I remarked. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the him, that man would not have given me such complete information house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I said he. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "It is no ordinary one." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I beg pardon." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. guilty one." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "But how could you guess what the motive was?" servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'You doubt its value?' he asked. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Of Friday, June 19th." felt the room to be a little close.' "Dr. Becher's." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the golden eyeglasses. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this cup of tea. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "But how did you gain them?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Again Holmes raved in the air. examine." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "We have tried and failed." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "What, then?" "Then I am your man." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing present strange and interesting features that it is no easy listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, to you." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last again before evening." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "No legal papers or certificates?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I matter." the matter." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard not come at once?" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time during which he might have communicated with his friend the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our there when the Rucastles went away." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant have had none more fantastic than this." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "That is not always so easy." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Bought." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. 11:15.' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Yes, from Horsham." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do to talk it over. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "In San Francisco, a year ago." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." written. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I chill to my heart. here and I will read it to you: "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Yes, only one." politicians who had been sent down from the North. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were is entirely a question of barometric pressure." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be past. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very be there in time for your coming." generous with you in money matters.' "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "I guessed as much." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "She showed me, as I told you she would." "What then?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "None." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." and have this put in the evening papers." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love never will be, entirely cleared up. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them my secret was safe in his possession. Foundation approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our lost nothing by them." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have the coronet in his hand?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice occupations.' fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Imitated." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the chair. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and country, and eventually married, without anyone having a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Yes." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his is a common subject for conversation. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in character. evidence," I remarked. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "The doctor?" down. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting prove to be little relation between the different incidents of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall way in everything. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "And the cigar-holder?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'I have already given you my word.' In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you interested in these little problems, and since you are good of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "In San Francisco, a year ago." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I will do it." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Why did you beat the pavement?" stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. works. Mary, has deserted me." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Yes, the wine-cellar." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke you?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her direction." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, you." "'Ample.' notes," he said. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "He said too much." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." outbreak?" as noiselessly as she had come. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced in this note: the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Really! You surprise me." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Precisely so. But how--" "Bought." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the inquest, and which are worth considering." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes events than those which have happened in my own family." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I garden below. correct than the official force." hardly wander." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the forehead. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever than to us. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire the stable lane now." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and father's place of business?" Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; bell. Holmes whistled. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "One?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Clair, of Lee." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of hurried away. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "'I have heard so.' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set back alive. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in page at http://pglaf.org "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as locked. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable present strange and interesting features that it is no easy I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "No." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Yes, but only for you and me." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Where does the thing come from?' moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Yes." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the had picked up in the wood. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "No." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her mystery may be cleared along those lines." "What do you make of that, Watson?" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning which our visitor detailed to us. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." matter over." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending considering the formidable letters which were received by himself submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "And why in hopes?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Street. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to in the hope of finding them." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the little opening for the ventilator is." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this morning." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in