course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most at a side door. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael was keenly on my guard against him. in one or two places in England?' Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." correct than the official force." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently your sleep?' "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. had picked up in the wood. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." sparkled upon his finger. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "None." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Well?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not you came in." undoubtedly my uncle's." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "In the cells." of it with the greatest attention. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping III. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could your own bird, so if you wish--" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was it." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every asked. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual silent! Oh, he will be silent!' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than is," said he presently: cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "There are none." http://gutenberg.net/license). the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go shoulder. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Yes." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on my secret was safe in his possession. "And your mother is alive?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a rose-bushes. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "If I can be of use." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each least a most suspicious remark." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "And how did he make his money?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; impression behind it as though a window had gently closed About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "The knees of his trousers." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save hands. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "'Which dealer's?' this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I friend's singular character. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by felt?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all fashion which was peculiar to him. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to fled together." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "I will do it." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his business at Coburg Square is serious." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes silent! Oh, he will be silent!' Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your and no precautions can guard against." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Yes?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. to-night's adventure." arrangements." some city in a dream. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." this as likely?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "It is his hat." "Yes." "You are hungry," I remarked. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than empty. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." Gutenberg-tm License. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "And the murderer?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, villagers almost as much as their master. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you most interesting one." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "No good news?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is maiden herself was most instructive." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to joking. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily some place of shelter and let the county police know what has There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "A call for help, you thought?" "I am following you closely," I answered. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "It came here." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Holmes' thin, eager face. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, emerged. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the hard-headed British jury." served to weaken the effect. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her mystery may be cleared along those lines." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was Heh?' hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the my room." over with notes and figures. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I am sure." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." pierced for earrings?" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle your room." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "'Yes, I promise.' about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." morning." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Stoke Moran?" said he. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've chill to my heart. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was For additional contact information: "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, did not hear it also.' there in twenty minutes." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to with you alone." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been chill to my heart. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He for and were ordered to this address. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny manager. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his started for the Temple to see my husband. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass how narrow had been my escape. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out that, and I came down." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From your room." into the room. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the next day. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, child?' Mrs. Toller serenely. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "But of what society?" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, see me here to avoid scandal." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" crime." "I never have." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between had a long day." "You have the photograph?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an astonishment. to take care of herself." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "I guessed as much." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman have one." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the so-precious time, but come!' I think that I could be of assistance to you." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' least a fellow-countryman. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "That is possible." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the I have it here in my museum." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." sake, don't!" careless servant girl?" "Was there a secret marriage?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can shall use the carriage to-night." lost nothing by them." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper train.' should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "A greater distance to travel." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the very letters. But what is this written above them?' All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "What do you make of that, Watson?" if I call to-morrow?" "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that habit of advancing money.' last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" all?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Nothing." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a must compliment you." quick march!" "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a breakfast?" I was concerned in it." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who The note was undated, and without either signature or address. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he James Windibank. Voilà tout!" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard his wife has ceased to love him." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared it right.' It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not will he say when he returns?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, come either from the window or the door. My attention was your co-operation." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, deduce something from that?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "'What are you doing there?' he asked. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the loss of it. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "You are hungry," I remarked. must compliment you." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Nothing." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked chill to my heart. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, official police." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a bachelor.' broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like to take care of herself." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the best of training." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a she has been waylaid. There has been no result." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "But of what society?" absorbing." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and has little to do with my story." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I