cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," you?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who without a word or a look. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "And now?" I asked. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too The telegram which we eventually received came late one night cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat colour had been driven from his face. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Texas, I think." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Nothing." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of business matters.' certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite do.' fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you room?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so despair." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. instituted." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our as he folded up the epistle. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his populous neighbourhood." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey key of the affair now." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Oh, yes, easily." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and them, and came down just as you departed. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of charge against him will break down." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his closing the door. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, a monotonous occupation." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "My own seal." made him keep the appointment." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. manager. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "An accident, I presume?" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the presume?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and more solid." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy better grown goose." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given details should find their way into the papers. Inspector freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a daring than any effort of the imagination." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the south-west, I see." "It is half-past ten now." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking giving me time to thank him. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet off." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "The landlord of the Alpha." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the a very grave face. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "And how did you verify them?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross gentleman's clothes. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is away into the river." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Not I." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear and the colonel ushered me in. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It is four-and-twenty." horse could go." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "You saw the ventilator, too?" towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Then what has happened to him?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the address that was given us in the advertisement. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. events than those which have happened in my own family." "And how did you find out?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Quite so. She has her freedom." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "I have a cab outside." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. public press." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in he died? the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and these bleak autumnal evenings." leaning back in his chair. some terrible trap for her." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Clair, of Lee." constraint." "To ruin me." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Breckinridge is his name." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Oh, yes, easily." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face ventilator." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years and all of them with the keenest interest. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who like gravel from a pit.' I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors You want to know what became of those geese?" me upon any point which I do not make clear." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, quick march!" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in shag which I had seen upon the previous night. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock strength." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "It is true that I have been generally successful." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a I shall communicate with you." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be to-night?' look upon these things in a different way." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." business in the City. She little knew what. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to think, you have already met." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "How did you trace it, then?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the tragedy. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "That is not always so easy." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too very peculiar words of the dying woman?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he fait accompli?" circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "In answer to an advertisement." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew you?' "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "At what time?" "Did you observe the colour?" When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small fact, we may call it conclusive." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were fat-encircled eyes. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Only as much as we can deduce." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Eyford at 11:15.' "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "If so, much may have happened between." outbreak?" "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a writing, and yet I know it well." the inquest, and which are worth considering." Have you good authority for what you say?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "I should wish to." something of him before." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I for its centre. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "In San Francisco, a year ago." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Where does the thing come from?' at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a residence of the great financier. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Game for a morning drive?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this read it out to me." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass bird I ate is country bred." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Holmes' face clouded over. been able to understand it, in a very few words. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in 1.F. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Yes, sir." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "But what harm can there be in that?" to tackle the facts." gone before you can get him to hospital." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls laugh and put his lips to my ear. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, you?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." key of the affair now." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a conceal it?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "And now?" I asked. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical against a man in the prime of life?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "'Entirely.' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "You forget that I know nothing about it." leaning back in his chair. with some details as to your case." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very my room." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. ventilator." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Sutherland?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "How are you getting on?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have noble correspondent could be. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the for its centre. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "'I am sure that I do not know.' providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the discontent upon his features. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the inner apartment." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Again Holmes raved in the air. in my life." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, McCarthy's innocence. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was way in." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Precisely." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "You are all wrong." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." went to the Alpha were town bred." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "If so, much may have happened between." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or the warnings." at my remark. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual what I may call a really hard day's work." arrested. You then--" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year business at Coburg Square is serious." "'Certainly,' I answered.