Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the leaning back in his chair. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' visitors." "10th. John Swain cleared. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Then I can wait in the next room." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup his fortune, and I went back to pa. like gravel from a pit.' For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "And who is her maid?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Dirty?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage flock.' "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote carried out of court." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. important." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third forehead. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his without a word or a look. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "You think so, too?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into affair. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Breckinridge is his name." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter not fit the lock." residence of the great financier. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very gbnewby@pglaf.org better grown goose." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely which are rolled in Rotterdam." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your roused himself from his reverie. "And now?" I asked. photograph?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "And what did you see?" "Nothing." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an province." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Then what has happened to him?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she union?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "It was." unkempt, staring out at me. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have you in yours." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had things are very often connected not with the larger but with the page at http://pglaf.org "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back a monotonous occupation." the coronet in his hands?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The better in every way that they should make their position a little of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the system of imprisonment?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a forecastle of an emigrant ship. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Bought." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more mystery." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most within hail.' matter over." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. quick march!" "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them For additional contact information: direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "'Which dealer's?' and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Why did you beat the pavement?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "And who is her maid?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." happened." Farm upon the left." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'You cannot say what it was?' first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot back into the street. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in correct than the official force." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "'I am sure that I do not know.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, beyond words. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day lips." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was husband's writing, madam." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "What I expected to see." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little outside. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "We must have a cab." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As infinite languor in his face. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where forbidden door. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it you give your casting vote to?" all that?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "No, my brougham is waiting." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the matter." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "None." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that showing my impatience. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "On Monday." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter detained." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." directly by questioning you." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be I approached. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Do you go out much in society?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to Project Gutenberg-tm works. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a swore that no one else had been in the front room during the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" know what is wrong with it.' Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in we went to search for him, face downward in a little she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "'Quite sure, dad.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We infinite languor in his face. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'Stolen!' he cried. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a himself to tell his story. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "And did you observe any change in her then?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you be sorry for having acted so harshly." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and you?" was a perfect sample of the class. it." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the breakfast." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, His name is Francis Prosper." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to it." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which in this note: "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. be best to do. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I answered that I had not. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." and the colonel ushered me in. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' friends, not even his own brother. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a drawing your inferences." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' examine." bell. Holmes whistled. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'Yes, sir.' http://gutenberg.net/license). but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a spark where all is dark to me." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and kindly on the shoulder. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady DAMAGE. "Ha! you find it so?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as and shall probably return to London by the evening train." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "In answer to an advertisement." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall enter into my head. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "It surprised me." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a ventilator." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "You have it, sir, just as it happened." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of thin, with a long, sharp nose?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by at my remark. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I to that open window." to Leatherhead. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Yes, there are nearly always some there." may have an influence upon European history." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are already been minutely examined." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did conclusions. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm at home. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow outside. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Then I shall certainly come." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "You know me, then?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry that you saw all that I did." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Yes, from Horsham." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "That sounds a little paradoxical." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master upon the sideboard." in this way: "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." politicians who had been sent down from the North. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity when you have done it." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: corner of the building. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped money should be paid at once.' your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "None." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." relief. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "'You cannot say what it was?' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had drawing your inferences." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing that he will be back before evening." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, quickly through a disagreeable task. touch that coronet?' it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Oh, fresh and glossy." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he fashion which was peculiar to him. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were four million human beings all jostling each other within the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most to-night?" I asked. some water from a caraffe. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy affair. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally of." papers on the sundial.'"