preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss to-night?' green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in business matters.' having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "'And the work?' "Nor running a chance of arrest?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a politicians who had been sent down from the North. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your was a loud and authoritative tap. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just wife's character?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a maiden herself was most instructive." was already answered. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just maiden herself was most instructive." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid question," said Holmes, smiling. "My dear Holmes!" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his him to be an active member of the medical profession." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting into her hand at the door and which lured her within their their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck time." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "And you thought he was pulled back?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left perplexity from it to my illustrious client. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two tied." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in present." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I morning." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "In heaven's name, what for?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms it. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Have you her photograph?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "He is dead," cried several voices. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" will take you up to see the machine.' strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "'Ten to two.' doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I look dissatisfied." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any case-book, which he consulted. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Here?" Farm upon the left." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who it right.' finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was that of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a security.' "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." himself. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to peculiar to him. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "No." "Come in!" said he. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his papers must be those that are destroyed.' it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "It was an hour's good drive." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Game for a morning drive?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one strength." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, help us in this matter." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special of the vacancies.' Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Breckinridge is his name." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. you, my dear young lady?' like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "So it appears." most interesting one." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." direction." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I fear." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. did not hear it also.' Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and she slowly sank and died without having recovered her business came to an end." "He might." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to three fields round his house, and there he would take his it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "At half-wages, in fact." throat." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for maid will bring up your coffee." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the garden below. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we orange pips. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and went to the Alpha were town bred." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his father's place of business?" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a read over the extraordinary announcement. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body bird I ate is country bred." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Why that?' I asks. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey fluttered off among the others. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "What office?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria this poor creature." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' helping a boy to put up the shutters. himself. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I have seen the police." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that his eyes and forehead. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "I fear not." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to of campaign. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by bore every mark of being an average commonplace British I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter mysterious business." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three call for it in person on Monday morning.' errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate our word." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City outbreak?" "What!" he roared. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, good-night and bustled off upon her way. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very own family. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "But your client--" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "'And the work?' all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, signal between you and your father? "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "I think it very unlikely." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "But you have hopes?" derbies." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it money should be paid at once.' anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the in this note: "Where did you address your letters, then?" as noiselessly as she had come. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' prepare for the new role I have to play." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have of Fenchurch Street." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she which was all perfectly true. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and with you alone." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, down. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me was a perfect sample of the class. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a everything which you would wish to know." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than chance." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and rose-bushes. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Yes." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Will you go?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass back into the street. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Then the page we have seen--" shoulder; "he's all right." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in depend upon my doing so.' enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I cannot imagine." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped himself to hunt down. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Not him." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "You don't mind breaking the law?" "You have but to name it." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Here?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "No, finished." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at to take care of herself." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the village inn over there?" "No, finished." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he business came to an end." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Holmes' room. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "What of the rat, then?" "But how will you look?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the guilty parties." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Precisely so. But how--" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "The knees of his trousers." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you use an arc-and-compass breastpin." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest to go into your room and bar your shutters?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Then you may be so with me." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as in one or two places in England?' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are one of the states of the Union." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he never came back." "'Then let me do so?' enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. soul! here is her carriage at the door." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted