"'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very main points of my analysis." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I off." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "When did she vanish, then?" had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and You can understand that this register and diary may implicate derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient closely." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "But not more so than I to find you." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "By all means." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "That was it, sir." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came Gutenberg-tm License. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers detective. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Won't it ring?" carriage. It was a chestnut." What do you deduce from it?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "It surprised me." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Oh, fresh and glossy." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always there!' "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to some mystery and the punishment of some crime." tear off another piece?' suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Stolen, then." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Here?" transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her once more on the important position which you have been fortunate to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no mystery may be cleared along those lines." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland very old mansion. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he if she died from some sudden fright." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Dirty?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very paper in the air. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that outside." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post relation between them, and what the object of his repeated to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be use an arc-and-compass breastpin." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Pray do so." "I shall be delighted." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must country, and eventually married, without anyone having a all?" legal crime." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Will you go?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." views." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Certainly." meanly of me." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a past. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Where to?" "That is unusual in a young girl." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Nothing." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, past. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." which was all perfectly true. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "None." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Yes, the wine-cellar." "The landlord of the Alpha." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and get the tickets." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have before, for it was considerably after midnight. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I so far?" can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "That is unusual in a young girl." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "My stepfather's business papers." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his will be renamed. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during their singular warning or token before them when starting upon knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Can I be of assistance?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. made him keep the appointment." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" was a perfect sample of the class. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "At half-wages, in fact." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Nor running a chance of arrest?" of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the address that was given us in the advertisement. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Yes, all." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and eavesdroppers?' "Was she in good spirits?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned this poor creature." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as pressing in one house as in another. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with have been better. It is all right." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the ashen face. "In answer to an advertisement." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Precisely." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "It was a confession," I ejaculated. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid he. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "What will you do, then?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. directors, with the result that you have seen." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "No." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Yes, he did." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' papers." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "I would give my fortune to have them back." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and His smile broadened. was lame." "'A dozen yards or so.' business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Then how many are there?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each way in." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." only touch the interest." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "'And what salary do you ask?' he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "You forget that I know nothing about it." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall hard-headed British jury." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at door?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Ten will be early enough." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the one as in the other." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst business in the City. She little knew what. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He generous with you in money matters.' "'And the work?' said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Here?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Did you become engaged then?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by opened the door, and slipped through. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we of the vacancies.' corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "You think that he is dead?" in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Yes, I have one waiting." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "But how will you look?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went friends, not even his own brother. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." morning." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue was keenly on my guard against him. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me respectable self." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately help us in this matter." careless servant girl?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can shall not find me ungrateful." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek good for you to do.' answered with a sidelong glance. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly have not had my rubber." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining strode off upon his way. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an which are rolled in Rotterdam." "You have a clue?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Not him." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to has little to do with my story." "I promise," said Holmes. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "She showed me, as I told you she would." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "I am all attention, madam." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town me." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," appeared upon the scene." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" a little more before I quite committed myself. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found kindly on the shoulder. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is had this final quarrel? from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his young Openshaw's." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the advice." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of think, you have already met." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem cigars in their mouths. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the ceiling. "She told me to ask you." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the see me here to avoid scandal." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found purpose equally well?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be forbidden door. success. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "She will not sell." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he a room. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It furiously. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Yes, there are nearly always some there." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his with you alone." "Certainly, madam." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a be. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before bearing upon the case." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. status with the IRS. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, noting anything else of interest. to tackle the facts." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered