another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Stoke Moran." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, colour had been driven from his face. matter." do.' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," long narrative. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "A confidential servant?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always again on its way. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I will do it." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There a monotonous occupation." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. bedroom door." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle It was close upon four before the door opened, and a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me speckled band?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the the morning and make my own way in the world.' teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no point in the dark hollow of his hand. "My private note-paper." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger to tell." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem carried out of court." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the arrangements." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on as the one I chose?' conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking The police have openly confessed that they can at present make fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When easy-going way." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate were wasted." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Yes?" hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Certainly." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an weapon." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and conclusions. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "By train from Waterloo." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination several quiet little villages up there." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project could go. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the stones. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from hardly wander." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "ARAT," I read. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked seen the man in the road." again." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Yes." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate upon an income of about 60 pounds." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "She walked into the breakfast-room." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. guilty one." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at my secret was safe in his possession. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from or in danger--" once more. the inner apartment." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Your presence might be invaluable." before, for it was considerably after midnight. to his chemical studies. observed. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Did your wife hear all this?" legal crime." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a returning from some small jollification and was making his way convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with are, I think, all that we need." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the loss of it. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that are, and they are waiting for us." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Watson," he said cordially. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day such person." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand behind me. at my own good fortune. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." be best to do. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply dead, shall be safe with us." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "What!" he roared. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will suspect him." "Was the window open?" outbreak?" rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Oh, the cause is excellent!" sake, don't!" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some http://gutenberg.net/license). Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked are, and they are waiting for us." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His became a certainty. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. hour?' in darkness. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg posted to-day." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. sooner or later she must fall a victim. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been me what he had done with the three missing stones. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "'There is a drive, then?' the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on not personally threatened." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is at once, for I have only half an hour." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and meant." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" shall use the carriage to-night." round and wave him away like that.' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for I took the paper from him and read as follows: we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Game for a morning drive?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Yes." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his side. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: me where it went to?" high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Did your wife hear all this?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! shoulder. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were not within a twentieth part of the market price." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, it." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea fatally injured? humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling his face. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our whole matter to your consideration." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Imitated." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Stoke Moran." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." are, I think, all that we need." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with was used.' the matter." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "What are they?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked be. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never to change my dress. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors of campaign. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, shaken than I had ever seen him. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it companion imperturbably. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' have established a very serious case against the son of the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. row." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. thought that she would have been so carried away." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Come in!" said he. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you bed dies. Does not that strike you?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for narrative." "Have you her photograph?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Where to?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Yes, it was twisted." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was business came to an end." "Who was the criminal, then?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. fluttered off among the others. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "By no means." writers could invent nothing more crude." lectures into a series of tales." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "No good news?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new noble correspondent could be. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' me. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met The police have openly confessed that they can at present make the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going sentimental considerations in the background which would induce shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front seem to you to be relevant or not." deduce something from that?" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "No?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I was sure that I might rely on you." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'About the same.' seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; of Fenchurch Street." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Yes, sir." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried be there in time for your coming." "How do you know, then?" the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our she has been waylaid. There has been no result." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which a monotonous occupation." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "How did that help you?" penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with