"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "And Miss Sutherland?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." colonel looking down at me. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his up this clue while it is still hot." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the go--none." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just enter Dr. Roylott's room." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to to have been novel and of interest." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "And on what day did he meet his death?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. village inn over there?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Then I can wait in the next room." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel to Leatherhead. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use returning from some small jollification and was making his way "And what did you learn from him?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with foot. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a awaited us upon the table. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred as he folded up the epistle. them present such singular features as the strange train of and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was affection." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Have you good authority for what you say?" Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Yes?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in client, rising. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "How did he come?" "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "He disappeared so suddenly." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help brandy and water within his reach. said he. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "'Where could I find him?' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Sutherland. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper in one or two places in England?' as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of strong and stiff." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "None." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action the house with me." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" maid will bring up your coffee." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped but preventing her from injuring another. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may to have that photograph." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Pray continue your narrative." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, bird I ate is country bred." is," said he presently: points to suicide?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' there." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, begun to whiten, even as mine has." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself evidence," I remarked. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in be.' diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob upon an income of about 60 pounds." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my manager. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "You are hungry," I remarked. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "And the murderer?" fled together." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Your French gold?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim this Miss Turner." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** his grey eyes. was a loud and authoritative tap. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood must compliment you." "What! a murderous attack?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but believe that I should never have any practice at all. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who down. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "You horrify me!" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "'And the work?' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hardly wander." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "I cannot imagine." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." morning." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the vault. "And from a noble client?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. business?" one of them." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what impression behind it as though a window had gently closed on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, posted to-day." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I started for the Temple to see my husband. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with views." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little anything to do with the matter?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "When did she vanish, then?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton asked. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in things are very often connected not with the larger but with the scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but nonsense.' cup of tea. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at standing smiling on the door-step. questioning and rather startled gaze. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back sparkled upon his finger. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers families. Now for the facts. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers do." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they case-book, which he consulted. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used was used.' persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "You will not go there first?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you British peeress.'" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." who was a member of your goose club." really the only notable feature about the thing." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. occupations.' "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I wife's character?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Tired-looking or fresh?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out conclusions. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will him!" unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and third from London." them present such singular features as the strange train of head. So long, then!" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly thought that she would have been so carried away." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "BALLARAT." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a his grey eyes. "What is it?" fluttered off among the others. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the for and were ordered to this address. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a my special province." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Yes, I have one waiting." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised nothing of it?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I back alive. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to might have a private word with us. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he to-night?' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up ventilator." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Perfectly so." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "And leave your case unfinished?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew yourselves in at night?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "But how?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by possible that we could bring him back to her? man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, should be taken.' front of me. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the child." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the more terrible than the truth. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has main points of my analysis." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. cup of tea. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "My own seal." see me here to avoid scandal." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled photograph a cabinet?" digesting their breakfasts at home." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate as he remarks, very much against the son." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Where to?" "It was an hour's good drive." "But what is it you wish?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Yes." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "It is very clear." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'Very good.' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she What do you deduce from it?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must shall use the carriage to-night." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing such attractions and accomplishments?' few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. down. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." I leave." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took of the vacancies.' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had certainly do as you advise." him and tried to hold him back. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had that, and I came down." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "And how have you succeeded?" "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "We must have a cab." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' waste of energy." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." to talk it over. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which IS "I came to find a friend." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow persecution?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom questionable one." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty union?" but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the respectable self." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that window when the police appeared." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were intrusion of other matters." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must was keenly on my guard against him.