me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I taking in every detail of the apartment. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which hands. "None." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an unkempt, staring out at me. residence of the great financier. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I clang of the bell. said he. once more. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "That was it, sir." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "A call for help, you thought?" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as there were so many in the whole country as were brought together governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, families. Now for the facts. "And leave your case unfinished?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "It was an hour's good drive." experiences." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. at my own good fortune. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have meant." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about all-comprehensive glances. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the Assizes." "And for present expenses?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it searched, without anything being found which could incriminate I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came best detective that ever lived. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that hurried away. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." do.' "Well, some hundreds of times." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my direction." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they skylight. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the house with me." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old are, and they are waiting for us." figure." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in me where it went to?" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Yes, it would be as well." "He might." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon http://gutenberg.net/license). high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east quick march!" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would McCarthy's innocence. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the maid will bring up your coffee." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a populous neighbourhood." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be business." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I cannot tell." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "I cannot as yet see any connection." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have amused." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who had formerly been in part my own. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" least a fellow-countryman. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just is four-and-twenty." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her come either from the window or the door. My attention was loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Eh? What was that?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a place of silver." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders fled together." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to is worth.' he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to off." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "You did not overhear what they said?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I minor matters until to-morrow." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work article?" "'What, the red-headed man?' "Quite so." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Perhaps we may make them less so." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and bears upon the case?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "The murder was done with it." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "We must have a cab." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious deduce something from that?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could call you and give you the chance." guilty one." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view good-night and bustled off upon her way. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. straightened it out again. "To the police?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by back alive. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Not him." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Stolen." speckled band?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. where we are going." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, security.' very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Did he not advertise?" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Serpentine Avenue. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Yes, he did." Arthur Conan Doyle and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the house with me." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he row." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Yes, at the mines." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand giving me time to thank him. out." as this. Pray let me have the details." something of him before." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Munro.' warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William strode off upon his way. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." or other trace. But how on earth--" "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Yes." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "So I have heard." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts someone who had been in Australia." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are even of instruction." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." I nodded to show that I had heard. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? in a friendly supper." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I think that I had better go, Holmes." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became what do you think they found in the pockets?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than said he. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his to a light-house. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? despair." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole chance at all." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, extraordinary contortions. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "You were travelling in the States?" my special province." quickly through a disagreeable task. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know people don't know." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "But his left-handedness." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in or other trace. But how on earth--" locked. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "No, finished." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "And how?" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either Countess of Morcar's?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I am in hopes that she does." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." into the bag, and made for the door. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), flock.' family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." written. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he she to prove their authenticity?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Perhaps we may make them less so." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able straightened it out again. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, never will be, entirely cleared up. "By no means." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it call you and give you the chance." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to could go. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Yes." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's have established a very serious case against the son of the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual over part of the map. "What do you read?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, get her out of the way." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so indiscretion." "My private note-paper." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced lips." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do status with the IRS. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "At half-wages, in fact." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Pray do so." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by