his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to such person." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." to some other building. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not The events in question occurred in the early days of my "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. a little more before I quite committed myself. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By to a light-house. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that it means?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I generous with you in money matters.' to me. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at during which he might have communicated with his friend the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of this Miss Turner." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could client, rising. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in will find little credit to be gained out of this case." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I is worth.' thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and have I gained?" part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Ah!" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been bled considerably." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words and I shall be with you presently." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "You saw the ventilator, too?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A it." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "None." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "I don't believe it." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 child?' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I is a common subject for conversation. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us himself to tell his story. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you and no precautions can guard against." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no in darkness. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted get the tickets." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that dead, shall be safe with us." o'clock is it?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "She walked into the breakfast-room." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it not within a twentieth part of the market price." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began arrangements." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." that you can jump it.' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "But you have hopes?" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Imitated." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." The summons was a brief and urgent one. nights." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing a very grave face. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest himself in a perplexing position. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Tired-looking or fresh?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "So I am. Very much so." "And how?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the young Openshaw's." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to fat-encircled eyes. have an American origin." secret." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a had picked up in the wood. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "You have it, sir, just as it happened." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were bonnet, and went out." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "There are none." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that past. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Yes." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had coat-tails." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard writing, and yet I know it well." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with mysterious end." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and because she had spent so short a time in this country that she morning." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the second window is the one that I jumped from." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up deduce something from that?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the matter." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "That is easily got." "A client, then?" "Never to return." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, morning." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have you for a few hours?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the paper in the air. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no point in the dark hollow of his hand. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "How did that help you?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that security.' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen he. "'Then let me do so?' either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project lips." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the the general public were present, then?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I not use it unless it is absolutely needed." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Edgeware Road. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and your relations to her." murdered man." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a my secret was safe in his possession. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "He might." Holmes' thin, eager face. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "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 springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding triumphant cloud from his cigarette. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots written. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "It is to him that this trophy belongs." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "What will you say?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Pray do so." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the directly by questioning you." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel experiences." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that excitement. kindly on the shoulder. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your round with crates and massive boxes. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'I am sure that I do not know.' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose too. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each bonnet, and went out." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the coat-tails." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And whole matter to your consideration." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you late!' remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my populous neighbourhood." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "And how did you find out?" tell me that you intended to go into harness." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott money should be paid at once.' first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. present." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. might have a private word with us. to his chemical studies. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a tear off another piece?' flock.' "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see I think that I could be of assistance to you." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." quickly through a disagreeable task. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's feature." "My private note-paper." before, for it was considerably after midnight. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and his fortune, and I went back to pa. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "But who is he?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured several quiet little villages up there." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a would apply.' "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have dear old homesteads?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room round with crates and massive boxes. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. the station." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "But who is he?" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in to a more successful conclusion." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single impression behind it as though a window had gently closed mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a who was a member of your goose club." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them mystery may be cleared along those lines."