in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the remarked. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Why serious?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Mrs. Toller serenely. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Foundation "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "My photograph." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged point in the dark hollow of his hand. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Two days later this same performance was gone through under remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in interested in these little problems, and since you are good you." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, something of him before." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." have accepted such a situation. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how have had none more fantastic than this." "But how?" dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had vault. cigar and let me expound." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Yes, sir." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' upon the white wrist. "Never." "But what is it you wish?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Quite so." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" is worth.' "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I lost his Christmas dinner." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, morning." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely make me his representative both with the servants and with the four million human beings all jostling each other within the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Imitated." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and events, Mr. Windibank!" room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis six. Come in!" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family undoubtedly my uncle's." in one or two places in England?' it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being ago." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his overpowering excitement and concern. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he at home. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'Certainly not.' charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "So I heard. You have him here?" "And how did you find out?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Nothing." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Heh?' when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Then, how do you know?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were do.' guilty one." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project door?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." acquaintance?" case before our client came into the room." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past a little more before I quite committed myself. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "That is unusual in a young girl." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp been able to understand it, in a very few words. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" meant." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Never to return." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot is entirely a question of barometric pressure." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no learned something! Where are the gems?" visitors." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture me. You must get home instantly and act." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible morning." "You think that he is dead?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "How did you deduce the select?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "How often?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of all that?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A we went to search for him, face downward in a little back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect burst out into a roar of laughter. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and the loss of it. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Nothing." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and make me his representative both with the servants and with the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the room while you explain this matter?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' copied or distributed: 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "But I have heard all that you have heard." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to I took the paper from him and read as follows: unclasping of his long thin hands. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Sholtos." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so or other trace. But how on earth--" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very that you wished to speak to me?' "It must be recovered." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you cigar and let me expound." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went in this way: autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "The doctor?" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Always." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman gbnewby@pglaf.org "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I am still in the dark." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Here?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and answered with a sidelong glance. "Where to?" there in twenty minutes." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. have accepted such a situation. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of and a shock of very red hair. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "I will try. What is it?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor asked. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay posted to-day." that you wished to speak to me?' "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and tied." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" during that time.' sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Tired-looking or fresh?" to his chemical studies. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? as the one I chose?' learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Then he might have called to you?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "And for present expenses?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such second." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "And how have you succeeded?" "'And what salary do you ask?' came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. south, for the country is more deserted there." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Bought." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the remarked. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back child?' there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the iron safe, which he closed upon it. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely read it out to me." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most than to us. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer to his chemical studies. train.' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low these bleak autumnal evenings." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Absolutely none." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I all that?" in this note: Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "And the murderer?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we but preventing her from injuring another. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets skylight. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "She walked into the breakfast-room." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Tired-looking or fresh?" breakfast." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case British peeress.'" "Is he quiet?" "Nothing." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable way in." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded as the one I chose?' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a said he. his huge brown hands. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Yes." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "And you don't know his address?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are vanished into the darkness. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so yourselves in at night?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "It is to him that this trophy belongs." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no when your master had gone out." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "A greater distance to travel." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the there in twenty minutes." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found true." of your young ladies.' the roots. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a your room." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "What!" he roared. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Where to?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have is now desirous of getting those letters back." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this best detective that ever lived. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached entirely devoid of interest." fact, we may call it conclusive." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done occupations.' younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the address that was given us in the advertisement. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "I will try. What is it?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "But how did you gain them?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I unclasping of his long thin hands. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "No." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those happened." approach us with offers to donate. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us ourselves in the office." what these perils are?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "And that is--" following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even forbidden door. think, you have already met." place of silver." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the promised to bring home. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than other, as fresh and trim as possible. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to