"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me not within a twentieth part of the market price." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and my special province." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying and have this put in the evening papers." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for locked. "Of what?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and what is your own theory as to what took place?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Foundation Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of of this gang." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or other, as fresh and trim as possible. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered be best to do. him to be an active member of the medical profession." lumber-room." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you indeed happy." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like exactly what you advise." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the companion. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Yes, he did." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Nothing." sparkled upon his finger. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Yes." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mrs. Toller serenely. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from instincts rose up against that laugh. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything detained." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' late!' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for present." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Upon what point?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "No, I had a dozen." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Mrs. Toller serenely. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Leadenhall Street--and--" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your newspaper selections." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "No, I think that I'll take it." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "He disappeared so suddenly." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. or other trace. But how on earth--" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," business." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your Eyford." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter heavy and sharp instrument." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Yes, certainly." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no present." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell matter." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Then he might have called to you?" your room." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a This is what he says: face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "I am in hopes that she does." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the so.' "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Sutherland?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I say that I have solved it." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. never to learn it at all." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Sutherland?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the tragedy. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not call you and give you the chance." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "It came here." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "I am sure." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'How far from the body?' or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "And is that all?" and the whole place is in a blaze." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a was a loud and authoritative tap. himself to tell his story. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "'Yes.' managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. some city in a dream. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "It was an hour's good drive." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were lamp in his hand. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now daring than any effort of the imagination." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The one else, I think." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "My photograph." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive becomes even more simple." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so invisible to me," I remarked. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." papers on the sundial.'" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able and have this put in the evening papers." the inner apartment." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Very well, sir. And this stone?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I do." "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, own family. gentleman's clothes. 'please.'" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Stoke Moran." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in again on its way. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "She showed me, as I told you she would." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood laugh and put his lips to my ear. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and had formerly been in part my own. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Entirely." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ arrangements." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Her father is very rich?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an silent! Oh, he will be silent!' The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "I came to find a friend." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just fasten all the windows?" which we had just quitted. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From your equipment. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "You don't mind breaking the law?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, bare slabs of marble. to tackle the facts." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the lost nothing by them." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Farm upon the left." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white and glanced through. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case families. Now for the facts. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which the address that was given us in the advertisement. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward made him keep the appointment." "Imitated." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness generous with you in money matters.' "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the conclusions. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at little adventures." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose II. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two could go. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "But how?" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "I was mad--insane." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "It must be recovered." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun burst out into a roar of laughter. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "What can you not understand?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before perplexity from it to my illustrious client. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "And your father? Did you tell him?" plantation.' "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Then I am your man." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. easy-going way." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the house with me." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, shall use the carriage to-night." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good one which it was hard to resist. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "His face fell immediately. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "And now?" I asked. conceal it?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own ready to-morrow?' dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were when you have done it." Count Von Kramm." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a shaken than I had ever seen him. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "No." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Not in the least." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that seen the man in the road." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should correct than the official force." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. reach." past. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such results."