the King without delay." to-night?' destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so quickly through a disagreeable task. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "There is the writing." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves mysterious end." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "But of what society?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was furiously. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "And why?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum amused." suddenly upon us." absorbing." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, your bag." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now has little to do with my story." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my closely." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Where, then, is my wife?" second." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have carpenter." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this You want to know what became of those geese?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "We must have a cab." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "And how in the world did you find them?" happened." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among of them has the shutters up.' indeed happy." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "A thing like a cleaver," said he. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. 'please.'" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. way: that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the opportunities to fix the problem. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia strength." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am in his hands." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "What can it mean?" I gasped. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Where, then, is my wife?" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, possible that we could bring him back to her? "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Then what has happened to him?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should said I. voice, changing her seat as requested. "Where, then, is my wife?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make wedding?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "It looks newer than the other things?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously said he at last. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been copied or distributed: here and I will read it to you: crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction ourselves in the office." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the matter?" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, remarked. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Has he come with you to-night?" society." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Nothing." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a quite distinctive." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the present." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little despaired of." "How many? I don't know." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to a little more before I quite committed myself. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself and put his glass in his pocket. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I populous neighbourhood." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "You heard nothing yourself last night?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he people in all walks of life. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "No, distinctly professional." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' ourselves in the office." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, it." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at right! Sit down and let us talk it over." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out questionable one." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular bed dies. Does not that strike you?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "And you don't know his address?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last wall." Serpentine Avenue. "Why, what do you mean?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Yes, it was twisted." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Bought." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "I have solved it." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Frequently." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very cigars in the box." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me again, where I was soon asleep. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he said I. "I think that it is very probable." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you This is what he says: eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the driver. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Young McCarthy must be got off, however." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "You don't mind breaking the law?" "And how did you verify them?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking shall use the carriage to-night." writing, and yet I know it well." with frightened eyes at his accuser. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped sufficient punishment." there was no need for father to know." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if forehead. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "I am to be neutral?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one whatever might befall. address. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the again, where I was soon asleep. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." sneer upon his pale face. Does that suggest anything?" "Come in!" said Holmes. article?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. it." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and client, rising. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "So I am. Very much so." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "No, I am descending." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a prison!" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be him to go away.' the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "I am still in the dark." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Perhaps I have." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save that I can to serve you." him to go away.' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Pool. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his seen the man in the road." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an matter." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Ample." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what were wasted." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "But how?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too been shamefully used." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed the date of his supposed suicide." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." strength in the others." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest should be so warm over such a trifle." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of fact, we may call it conclusive." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it heavy and sharp instrument." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But had died away into the silence from which it rose. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. security.' accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "The murder was done with it." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" confronted him. call the police, let the police find what they can.' stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "It is very kind of you." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Miss Holder?" his grey eyes. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I make me his representative both with the servants and with the "I will try. What is it?" is worth.' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Eyford." thought that she would have been so carried away." meanly of me." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and too. "But I am all in the dark." but preventing her from injuring another. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he hour." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "No, my brougham is waiting." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the father's place of business?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "It's nothing of the kind." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "It was." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. official police." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down one of them." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, know what is wrong with it.' "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Pray do so." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's