landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "And you thought he was pulled back?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last But Holmes shook his head gravely. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "How did that help you?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Frequently." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I and have this put in the evening papers." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to wedding?" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "I don't believe it." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you served to weaken the effect. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "And help." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning know what is wrong with it.' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "It came here." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Precisely so. But how--" http://www.gutenberg.net this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by fled together." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Yes." rose-bushes. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until should be taken.' could gather together that I was able to avert another public absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions orange pips. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Married! When?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, ordinary clothes on?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I cannot as yet see any connection." your equipment. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly you?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If there!' finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before detained." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I fear not." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess to tackle the facts." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San through." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' straightened it out again. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as there." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. rooms." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then this as likely?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." that, and I came down." something of him before." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to hands. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a closely." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a read it out to me." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and have accepted such a situation. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Why, what do you mean?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he envelope. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which all-comprehensive glances. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "No." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a neither fascinating nor artistic." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray during which he might have communicated with his friend the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, strength in the others." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled strength." it." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "In heaven's name, what for?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Well." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he stepfather?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" never came back." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter money should be paid at once.' "Stolen, then." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us house for five minutes.' "No." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked should be so warm over such a trifle." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out front of the hall door has given its name to the place. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Only as much as we can deduce." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this quickly through a disagreeable task. "The doctor?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different October 9, 1890. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry intrusion of other matters." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and to-night?' "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name retorted upon me, and I on you." families. Now for the facts. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Yes, sir." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A beg that you will break it off." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" compunction about shooting them down." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Eh? What was that?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that as the one I chose?' dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Stolen." "Why did you beat the pavement?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had out of this horrible affair." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His mystery!" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Where, then?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be McCarthy." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to This is what he says: question. "Imitated." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch returning from some small jollification and was making his way Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we You want to know what became of those geese?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was you." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a triumphant cloud from his cigarette. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an present." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a know what is wrong with it.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "'Yes, sir.' the so-precious time, but come!' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had congenial hunt. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" second window is the one that I jumped from." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Then I can wait in the next room." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your for securing the situation." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Certainly." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I cannot imagine." this Miss Turner." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Perhaps we may make them less so." the coronet at all injured?" "Then, as to money?" What do you deduce from it?" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Why did you pick him?" glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you there were so many in the whole country as were brought together leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the ready to-morrow?' woman who has had her own way to make in the world. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Nothing." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" II. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of works. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "I cannot imagine." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither hard-headed British jury." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Quite so. She has her freedom." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "None." six. Come in!" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide there when the Rucastles went away." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box acquaintance?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "My private note-paper." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He he. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "I am in hopes that she does." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, your bag." acted in my house last night?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "My photograph." "I would give my fortune to have them back." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the his eyes and forehead. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "What, then, did Peterson do?" side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a window when the police appeared." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a are, I think, all that we need." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from wall." "Very murderous indeed." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "No." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of prepare for the new role I have to play." any." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little