"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet it? Did I buy the geese off you?" had picked up in the wood. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the child." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" attention." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds might have a private word with us. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor direction." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after approach us with offers to donate. "'What then?' I asked. "I fear not." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you him nearly every evening." six. Come in!" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Your presence might be invaluable." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. disturbance in my wife." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small business." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in seem to you to be relevant or not." have got?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'And the work?' that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own morning." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think know that the truth is known." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not lumber-room." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I say that I have solved it." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "What then?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you companion. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." other means.' come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had was lame." danger is over." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "I shall most certainly do so." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "And how did you verify them?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the to tackle the facts." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the it were putty." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "How do you know, then?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "About a month then." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "And why?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon whereabouts. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, in darkness. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." gigantic client. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "And the murderer?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "On Monday." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Who by?" you do it in twenty minutes!' Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Certainly." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are bonnet, and went out." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be when you have done it." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "I think that I had better go, Holmes." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. carriage. It was a chestnut." opportunities to fix the problem. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Pope's Court, Fleet Street." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. disappearance of these gems?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing not interfere, come what may. You understand?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. that "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "And why?" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet carpenter." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "But she could not love him." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "At what time?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Where did you address your letters, then?" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you fuss that is made over them." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast know that the truth is known." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal me." "Entirely." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Entirely." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Pray continue your narrative." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. questioning and rather startled gaze. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the King without delay." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to case-book, which he consulted. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new the morning and make my own way in the world.' Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King wall." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Nearly eleven." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and weapon." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at in my life." it right.' Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the salesman. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those himself in a perplexing position. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "And leave your case unfinished?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a tassel actually lying upon the pillow. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "But who is he?" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never of the one which your family is now devouring." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly asked with his eyes open. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his strength in the others." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. giving me time to thank him. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, back to my heart. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land voice. "His face fell immediately. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I should like to see him very much." village inn over there?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Pray do so." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the manager. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is results." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "How do you know, then?" enter into my head. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "My dear Holmes!" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a experiences." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord business?" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the shall use the carriage to-night." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are do." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway how narrow had been my escape. depend upon my doing so.' "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "And sit in the dark?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. particular state visit http://pglaf.org lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Which are?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "ARAT," I read. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire call the police, let the police find what they can.' you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "I see no marks." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Count Von Kramm." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "From his hat?" golden eyeglasses. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Never." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" quickly through a disagreeable task. "To the police?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "And why?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house his fortune, and I went back to pa. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has eat it." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Will you bet, then?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an the little opening for the ventilator is." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an young Openshaw's." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are yourselves in at night?" correct than the official force." time." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would he. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. certainly not very gracious." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Yes, only one." "Quite so." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would this truth that in these little records of our cases which you objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to emerged. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to to that open window." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most records." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the very old mansion. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "I think it very unlikely." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other morning." acquaintance?" Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from might have a private word with us. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own front of me. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "And the murderer?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended not use it unless it is absolutely needed." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was upon a handsome competence. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It me. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that look dissatisfied." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? fact, we may call it conclusive." Stoke Moran." "But how?" indeed happy." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the October 9, 1890. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at