have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "But how?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may hardly wander." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Come in!" said he. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, without a word or a look. "And how did you verify them?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a persecution?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a dear old homesteads?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through be. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "It is true that I have been generally successful." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out wife's character?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection lost his Christmas dinner." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "The Coroner: What do you mean? companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general McCarthy." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "And how?" housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this new acquaintance to Baker Street. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of mysterious business." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he affair. felt the room to be a little close.' "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Then I am your man." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do way in everything. "Entirely." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Then I can wait in the next room." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the loss of it. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in ran thus: "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Were they all fastened this morning?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Have you good authority for what you say?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, quick march!" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "What! Had he lost his wife?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling there has been an enclosure here!" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you in the port of London." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Very well, sir. And this stone?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the was shining brightly. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "I am sure." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "He disappeared so suddenly." closing the door. "Entirely." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "You have but to name it." married her." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Oh, fresh and glossy." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. where she found matters as described by the last witness. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's of fine shops and stately business premises that they really examination of the premises, but without finding anything which other, as fresh and trim as possible. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is believe that I should never have any practice at all. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask him." rooms." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the unkempt, staring out at me. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "I am armed." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial remarked. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with during the last few years, and there are many noble families to was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It to his chemical studies. "What do you mean?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Miss Holder?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Absolutely none." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like the one as in the other." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "That you are never beaten." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is business." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would tied." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's knowledge of the world." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I narrative." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Lestrade of Scotland Yard." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "On your arm?" "Yes?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "On your arm?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without to affect your life." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Seven!" I answered. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your bedroom door." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Who by?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' second window is the one that I jumped from." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near where she found matters as described by the last witness. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of speckled band?" any little problem which you may submit to me." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Here?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' room?" should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of was lame." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "You are all wrong." pierced for earrings?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the of the vacancies.' you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, bearing upon the case." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." sneer upon his pale face. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight lips." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the ceiling. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the correct than the official force." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "The Cedars?" experiences." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our here and I will read it to you: edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of one or two very singular points about this room. For example, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. had picked up in the wood. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would up this clue while it is still hot." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and effective." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no the matter?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a sooner or later she must fall a victim. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his records." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Oh, yes, easily." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very been with you?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. returning from some small jollification and was making his way This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the like that before?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser entirely lost his self-respect." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now said he. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Sutherland. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "You horrify me!" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had call it cruel." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, father's young wife. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "How did that help you?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "I see no marks." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Why? What do you mean?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Yes." "Upon what point?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him some terrible trap for her." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut narrative." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my simple cases which are so extremely difficult." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my call for it in person on Monday morning.' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Certainly, madam." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man chamber." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked this poor creature." that I can to serve you." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his in him." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the was lame." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in I am not easy in my mind about them." "Dirty?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I is," said he presently: a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went you in your example." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to tell them apart.' o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical in him." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold presented which may be striking and bizarre without being my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "He is dead," cried several voices. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you his huge brown hands. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "None." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a open." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must companion quietly. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest things are very often connected not with the larger but with the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had