we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which it had come upon my father." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand You want to know what became of those geese?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your the coronet in his hands?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A subject to the trademark license, especially commercial I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'What are you doing there?' he asked. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'Yes, it was gone.' "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it returned to France?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we lectures into a series of tales." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a gentleman's clothes. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Imitated." "When did she vanish, then?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project she slowly sank and died without having recovered her them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it http://gutenberg.net/license). was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm strong and stiff." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "The Cedars?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father friend's singular character. "You have but to name it." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the come either from the window or the door. My attention was business?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Very truly yours, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we used to be." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "An enemy?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing one else, I think." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "'I shall certainly be there.' "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom official police." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Then the page we have seen--" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Seven!" I answered. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "'Yes, sir.' self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There as he folded up the epistle. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Ah, but I was recommended to you." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw of note-paper. It read in this fashion: sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very where Mr. Fordham shows you.' out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely I took the paper from him and read as follows: other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By me have 200 pounds?' like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror and glanced through. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must attention." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you were unconscious?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my which I could not give. He asked for Alice. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "I warn you that they are very incomplete." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Ah, but I was recommended to you." be sorry for having acted so harshly." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, said he. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three had this final quarrel? done what I asked you, Jones?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something away into the river." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not married her." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' said he at last. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a you came in." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "I never have." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from rose-bushes. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote to surprise her." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, had a long day." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. forecastle of an emigrant ship. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "No, my brougham is waiting." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I of it with the greatest attention. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" once more for Briony Lodge. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as is now desirous of getting those letters back." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "And for present expenses?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa pictures, libraries, or plate. is," said he presently: should be so warm over such a trifle." at once, for I have only half an hour." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "It came here." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Was he the only applicant?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I yards of it?' eavesdroppers?' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Eh? What was that?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the at home. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "It is half-past ten now." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking was not a bird to be seen there. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. indeed happy." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, wedding?" have an American origin." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "'Why that?' I asks. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and went to the Alpha were town bred." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. States. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and in the port of London." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Yes, the wine-cellar." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This new duties?' "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my where she found matters as described by the last witness. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a photograph a cabinet?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "How can you tell that?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Thank you. Pray proceed." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. of campaign. "Never." "Frequently." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "He slept on the premises." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her national property. I was determined that the law should have its dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "On your arm?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such place no limit on the sum I may draw." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must until night should bring an explanation. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" cigars in the box." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Yes, sir." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked gives a meaning to it." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become into the room. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a 1.F. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the This is what he says: with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to confronted him. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the the coronet at all injured?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Pope's Court. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "I know where it is." enter into my head. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. with you alone." "No, finished." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "What do you make of that, Watson?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should knowledge of the world." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "And for present expenses?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." someone who had been in Australia." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." in his hands." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Street. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look four million human beings all jostling each other within the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other and glanced through. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'Tell me all about it,' said I. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up gone before you can get him to hospital." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting companion. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Yes." "I should wish to." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Were they all fastened this morning?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "It is his hat." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, business came to an end." ourselves in the office." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "And I to find an enemy." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been key of the affair now." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Yes, it was twisted." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by and the whole place is in a blaze." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, for securing the situation." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "'Never.' deduce something from that?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this experiences." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable to arrive at through this?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. introspective fashion. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few pictures, libraries, or plate. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom dramatic, in fact." tell me that you intended to go into harness." have an American origin." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is