look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and detained." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a would then never go into court at all." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. walking." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power bled considerably." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "And you don't know his address?" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a go back?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "But of what society?" "It must be recovered." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Not in a good cause." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Yes." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not all that?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a Holmes." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "And from a noble client?" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I me, and I could not think that his explanation of the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "May I see it?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "But how could you guess what the motive was?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To hair?' key turn in the lock." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in most important business. It is probable that he will be away all seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the with you?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in cause to be." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "You will not go there first?" the little opening for the ventilator is." hair?' of the vacancies.' grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "That's no good." your bag." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "No good news?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. to have been novel and of interest." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is of fine shops and stately business premises that they really as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Eh? What was that?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Yes." "The gentleman I describe." "Yes." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. galvanised. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the coronet in his hand?" here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded be.' should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'Yes.' fait accompli?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which have got?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in me." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the King without delay." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "No sign of it?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, this remarkable episode. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not himself in a perplexing position. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the running down." me have 200 pounds?' strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the murdered man." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over in the hope of finding them." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Certainly." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time again on its way. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "I am about to be married." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "I would give my fortune to have them back." prisoner's face. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the coronet at all injured?" is worth.' taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and only touch the interest." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "I shall most certainly do so." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or then?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the constraint." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in good for you to do.' generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Pray do so." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Yes." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house him!" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "'I am sure that I do not know.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You weighed down with some great anxiety. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Thank you. And your address?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him best detective that ever lived. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study 1.F. you do it in twenty minutes!' tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief this Miss Turner." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "And I to find an enemy." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "'What, the red-headed man?' pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It to talk it over. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little the bed, and you in that chair." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the kind enough to tell me what I should do." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Holmes' thin, eager face. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," business?" companion. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Where does the thing come from?' initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were look dissatisfied." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Do you know him?" families. Now for the facts. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Because he was handy and would come cheap." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Very truly yours, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. stood on the top of it. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side one which it was hard to resist. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the as this. Pray let me have the details." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with had died away into the silence from which it rose. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer husband's writing, madam." "The doctor?" had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he he died? him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to me. case-book, which he consulted. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few sufficient punishment." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I shall most certainly do so." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Then, as to money?" would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "And is that all?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Yes?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Yes." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk States. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "I answered that I had not. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Witness: I must still refuse. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "I will do it." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each you in your example." "'Certainly not.' narrative." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Yes, certainly." "It is half-past ten now." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Have you good authority for what you say?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a becomes even more simple." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug sentimental considerations in the background which would induce and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with strong and stiff." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "One horse?" interjected Holmes. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Where did he live, then?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low other, as fresh and trim as possible. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "A call for help, you thought?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a undoubtedly my uncle's." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." your room." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at do." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You forget that I know nothing about it." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be know that the truth is known." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Do you go out much in society?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "I will not look." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived persecution?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "So I heard. You have him here?" matter." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and useful material for showing traces. The double line a little the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they became a certainty. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "She walked into the breakfast-room." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I would give my fortune to have them back." this man was intellectual?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Leave Paddington by the 11:15." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "She will not sell." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "You have a clue?" "'Ample.' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the union?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the bed, and you in that chair." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. prison!" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your and capable of preserving a secret.' "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Her father is very rich?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. unkempt, staring out at me. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to in this way: "'Never.' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I The summons was a brief and urgent one. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe.