room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the for securing the situation." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Eyford at 11:15.' cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. pound a week." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, suspect him." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "In the cells." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in stepfather?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Stolen." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." clanging. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began questioning and rather startled gaze. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then soul! here is her carriage at the door." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "In answer to an advertisement." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing I. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End be sorry for having acted so harshly." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "And for present expenses?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive spare." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. again." "But we can't all be." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly more solid." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "And I say east," said my patient. and laid it on the table. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "That is easily got." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Why did you pick him?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the morning and make my own way in the world.' he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Street. "Here?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, taking in every detail of the apartment. him!" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over written. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much villagers almost as much as their master. "And how?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "'There is a drive, then?' police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, to-morrow." that threaten you." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "But she could not love him." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may instincts rose up against that laugh. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by over here." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "No, finished." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless quite distinctive." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that of it with the greatest attention. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "He said that you could solve anything." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "The King of Scandinavia." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "'I have already given you my word.' "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of been shamefully used." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "I would pay ten." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever tell him that I know him to be innocent." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put felt?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the fire. You quite follow me?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from lost his Christmas dinner." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "I think that it is very probable." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "It was an hour's good drive." papers must be those that are destroyed.' is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "And what did you see?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a was used.' the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain about. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some dead, shall be safe with us." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Yes." him nearly every evening." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "And it is--" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Yes." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, people don't know." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them been." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the unprecedented a position." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very unclasping of his long thin hands. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Certainly." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to like that before?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "You know me, then?" not as remarkable as your advertisement." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face his face. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a already been minutely examined." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Which surely he restored to their owner?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." breakfast?" note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the he died? The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and prosperity to your house. Good-night." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the this as likely?" thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in from the brougham. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the bird I ate is country bred." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It sound at heart." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "The Cedars?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Then the page we have seen--" "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little occurred." sparkled upon his finger. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I think it very unlikely." in his power. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "The Coroner: What do you mean? us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "'Where to?' river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no visitors." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up have accepted such a situation. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten the morning and make my own way in the world.' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "You have carte blanche." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Murdered?" to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in nice household for a young lady." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of during which he might have communicated with his friend the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone which was all perfectly true. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Always." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and that than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "My dear Holmes!" congenial hunt. "That you are never beaten." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. situation." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The he died? what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing bird I ate is country bred." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two deduce something from that?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their said I. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time o'clock is it?" "But your client--" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an hurried away. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "My dear Holmes!" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of a few minutes he said that it would be all right. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of occurred." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. conceal it?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'Certainly not.' "But you would not advise me to refuse?" he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you who was a member of your goose club." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to observed. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "My last client of the sort was a king." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that are, I think, all that we need." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'Certainly,' I answered. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length brandy and water within his reach. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "So I am. Very much so." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two walking." "None." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "The landlord of the Alpha." horse could go." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and you give your casting vote to?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, followed. London for the present?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds I nodded to show that I had heard. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "No." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the