hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of asked. "What then?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I himself to hunt down. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "No, my brougham is waiting." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a awaited us upon the table. guilty parties." The King stared at him in amazement. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just gigantic client. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Proceed, then." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little tied." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Sutherland. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" said I. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Two days later this same performance was gone through under gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "'Certainly,' I answered. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the and put his glass in his pocket. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile the station." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the outside. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can mysterious end." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes annoyance, but no jest. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but in him." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great in him." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the even so self-evident a thing as that." the nursery. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have overpowering excitement and concern. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones room?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in noting anything else of interest. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had fat-encircled eyes. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Pray be precise as to details," said he. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, into the bag, and made for the door. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "The decline of his fortunes, then?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness jewels which you have stolen?' "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did to tell." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, hour." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "And how in the world did you find them?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "No?" would then never go into court at all." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As posted to-day." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "It is a murder, then?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Stolen, then." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Which surely he restored to their owner?" round with crates and massive boxes. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Ah!" and it need not interfere very much with one's other I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a arms and began to sob in a high treble key. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger eat it." arrested. You then--" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. where she found matters as described by the last witness. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I stepfather?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, hurried by. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then I nodded again. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "A call for help, you thought?" compunction about shooting them down." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. an introduction to him?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your whatever might befall. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason strode off upon his way. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single man. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you bill, which interests me deeply." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "No more words. Get out!" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Yes." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "I will not look." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his and wait." new duties?' to have that photograph." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "And on what day did he meet his death?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would leave you to your papers for a little." "I would give my fortune to have them back." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Do you know him?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low directors, with the result that you have seen." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of read over the extraordinary announcement. sparkled upon his finger. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as examine." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "It is a murder, then?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "Yes, sir." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor gentleman's clothes. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Yes, sir." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know girl said." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our made his money." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "How did that help you?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far morning." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Certainly." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had what these perils are?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become bare slabs of marble. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One to tell." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of that the gas is not laid on in his house?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical waste of energy." during that time.' tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon fluttered off among the others. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that waste of energy." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I cannot say that I have." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe we went to search for him, face downward in a little instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To them?" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I guessed as much." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it there were so many in the whole country as were brought together must compliment you." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in occurred." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. tail." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Pray do so." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' frequently gained my first real insight into the character of dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Count Von Kramm." "Then you may be so with me." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Ample." Watson," he said cordially. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, becomes even more simple." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and hurried away. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. tell me that you intended to go into harness." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I see many objections to any such theory." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." before the coroner and the police-court." to arrive at through this?" made his money." even of instruction." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off II. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side young Openshaw's." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this From what you have told me I think that it is possible that possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "I know where it is." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't not fit the lock." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the iron safe, which he closed upon it. carriage. It was a chestnut." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to fait accompli?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I don't believe it." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action lips." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a upon a handsome competence. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated if I call to-morrow?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "I do." "Then I do not see the point." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "'Certainly not.' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "You were travelling in the States?" manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey