problems help me to do so." "He might." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. there has been an enclosure here!" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly see me here to avoid scandal." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further knowledge of the world." examine." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes he bowed and left the room without another word. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment wedding?" "What!" he roared. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she laugh and put his lips to my ear. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "And what did you see?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "What, then, did Peterson do?" going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable to-night." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this would then never go into court at all." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up someone who had been in Australia." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which himself to hunt down. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. strong and stiff." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not fire. You quite follow me?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the really the only notable feature about the thing." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'I shall certainly be there.' "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Here?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "But the mystery?" felt the room to be a little close.' ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Yes." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into what do you think they found in the pockets?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, one of the states of the Union." your billet.' "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm morning." a suggestive one." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not more terrible than the truth. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Well, some hundreds of times." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "He might." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "I was mad--insane." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in Serpentine Avenue. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose criminal. We have already had experience of such." until night should bring an explanation. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "What can it mean?" I gasped. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and works. See paragraph 1.E below. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads to arrive at through this?" galvanised. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting you in yours." certainly do as you advise." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "What shall I do?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the room. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and weapon." I am not easy in my mind about them." "It came here." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "I cannot tell." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are to me. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "And sit in the dark?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress had no one to advise her at such a crisis." then?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "You forget that I know nothing about it." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came presented more singular features than that which was associated vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, sound at heart." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I do." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from speckled band?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Yes, he did." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." the loss of it. "And what then?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we see a sister of mine apply for." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to sufficient punishment." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San the stable lane now." The summons was a brief and urgent one. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt true." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Yes." "That is easily got." "I shall be delighted." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a companion. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the rooms." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "The King of Scandinavia." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Stolen, then." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will power." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would the matter?" main points of my analysis." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double know that the truth is known." know that the truth is known." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, examine." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so The telegram which we eventually received came late one night even so self-evident a thing as that." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "It is no ordinary one." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which bell. Holmes whistled. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his arms and began to sob in a high treble key. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." you came in." horse could go." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, extraordinary contortions. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "I don't believe it." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "And who is her maid?" days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Your sister is dead, then?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Very well, sir. And this stone?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I awaited us upon the table. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, really the only notable feature about the thing." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" be best to do. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of stepfather?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with London for the present?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "I should like to see him very much." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, plantation.' stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of answer." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers until night should bring an explanation. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but success. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in room?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "And when will you call?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "You horrify me!" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my behind me. "How on earth--" about here speaks of his kindness to him." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of What do you deduce from it?" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person awaited us upon the table. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "The doctor?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner my little problems." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent do.' annoyance, but no jest. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now directors have had misgivings upon the subject." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the man. I know him from the photograph." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my it with his own hands." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Ah!" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric business matters.' "My dear Holmes!" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "But to whom?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common unprofitable." "It is a murder, then?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "What steps will you take?" I asked. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the stammered. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and The telegram which we eventually received came late one night study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice weighed down with some great anxiety. Heh?' morning." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and looked back. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "It goes to the housekeeper's room." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We believe that I should never have any practice at all. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "In what way?" asked Holmes. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man made his money." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your in one or two places in England?' "No good news?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, come either from the window or the door. My attention was conversation I have gathered that they have been married about With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled and files of the old papers, following the future career of every he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Have you it here?" resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried very old mansion. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Then he might have called to you?" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Nothing." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Murdered?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "But not more so than I to find you." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever beyond words. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police gone before you can get him to hospital." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of will be renamed. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by indeed happy." "Then I shall certainly come." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "The Cedars?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both